Survivors
by lilfriend400
Summary: He stayed with her, when he doesn't know what happened to the village. Takes place after Tsumihoroboshi-hen. RenaxKeiichi. Might turn out OOC
1. Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've had Mion working at Angel Mort too.

"Food, blankets, done!" I packed them up for the hospital visit. Then I head through the door and got onto my bike. It took a while before the speed picks up, as I was wheezing and gasping for air once the limit goes off the chart. I didn't know how long it took me to get there, but just imagining her face was just enough to get through a good bike workout. Finally shutting to a complete stop, I noticed an area for bikes and locked up mines. Entering through the doors, I was greeted by a young nurse. "I'm looking for Rena Ryuuguu. What room is she in?"

"115. Take the elevator up to the 4th floor and you'll see it to the right." I did just as she instructed, and finally got to the point where I'm sweating like crazy by just holding the door knob. Some of the sweat from my hand dripped to the floor, sounding out a water droop.

_"Just freaking do it."_ I whispered to myself. I tried to forget all the nervousness that was building inside of me and immediately turn the knob. There she was, lying down on the hospital bed. She was sleeping soundly, eyes sparkling, lips curled as if she won the lottery. I quietly set aside my bags as I do not want to have this peaceful atmosphere disturbed. My eyes got caught into her figure, and I do have to admit: she looks very cute while asleep. I then scanned through the room until I locked onto a maple wood clock: 12:00 AM. I figured that's why it's been pretty cold out lately. Finding myself yawning, I slipped out a thick blue blanket, as fit for the winter. I covered myself with the blankets, and fell into a deep slumber.

The sun cracked through the windows and nearly blinded my vision. My hand reached out besides my forehead, shading it from the bright light. Then I turn to the clock again: 9:28 AM. I would think of it as a nice 9-hour sleep, as it is perfect for a guy my age. I then heard a groan from the person sleeping right next to me. Her eyes opened and widened once she saw my appearance.

"K-K-Keiichi-kun!" she was utterly surprised. I smiled warmly in response.

"How are you doing?" she looked down, blushing a shade of red, as I would also consider cute.

"I'm fine." she replied timidly. My stomach felt empty and I decided to eat the food I brought. There I took out a bento box. I opened the lid, and there sat eggs, fish, rice, beef, and veggies, all made and packed by my mom. I gracefully swirl my chopsticks out, then paused before touching breakfast.

"Do you want some?" I turned at her. She had bandages covering her neck and wrist.

"Er, it's okay." she waves out her hands in a 'no' position. I chomped through my breakfast like a hungry lion eating 100 fishes that's been given in front of him. I caught a glimpse of her drool edging out of her mouth and decided to give her the last remaining egg. She still gave the same 'no' response.

"I saw that drool flipping out of your mouth, so don't deny it." I chuckled as she wipes it off. I pluck the egg in her mouth and watched her chew and swallow, like a little kid eating a hot dog for the first time. The door swung open, and stood what look like a doctor.

"It feels like a miracle for you to wake up right after the day you've been hit with the Hinamizawa Syndrome." he looked at his notebook for a while. "Can you step out for a while? We have to take a few more tests before we can figure out if she still needs to stay here." I nodded and went outside with bags on my hands. Then I just sat on the bench, fiddling with my fingers and thinking about some possibilities.

"It'll feel a bit quiet without her around during our clubs." I sighed sadly. "We all missed her 'Hau's'" I jolted up once the doctor came out. "Will she be okay?"

"Don't worry. It seems she recovered extremely fast. We also gave medicine in case if anything bad happens to her." I sighed again, this time for relief.

"Thank goodness." the doctor paused a bit.

"You and her live in Hinamizawa, right?" I nodded. The doctor looked down at the floor for a moment before resuming.

"I guess you guys are the-"

"Well, what do we have here?" Oishi interrupted.

"Rena's going to be alright, right doctor?" I questioned.

"Ah, yes! She seems to be in perfect shape. I gave her some medication in case."

"I see…" he tried to hide his cigarette box. "Well, Keiichi-san, would you like to come back to Hinamizawa?" I felt a little shiver to his tone, especially the emphasis on the last few words.

"I'm going to wait for Rena." Oishi sighed as he dug deep in his pockets.

"Then, I will be waiting for you two outside. In the meantime, I'll be having a smoke. Leave the transportation to me." he then walked out of sight. I walked back to Rena's hospitalized room.

"Oishi's waiting for us, we should get going." Rena felt dumbfounded for a moment, then realized and hurriedly jump out of the bed. Apparently, she was only wearing a pair of pink pajamas. Noticing this, I quickly fetch out a jacket from one of my bags. "Here."

"T-Thank you." Rena stuttered out, still blushing that same red shade. We both exited out the doors and found Oishi smoking his 5th cigar. He pointed to his car, and I unloaded the bags and my bike in it. We sat in the back seat, as Oishi got the engine started.

"Well, you guys seem to be cheerful aren't you?" he questioned.

"Yep, and I can't wait to see dad again." Rena smiled. It took 20 minutes to get to the point where the environment seems familiar.

"Why are you slowing down?" Rena wondered. Oishi remained quiet for a bit, then resume driving at a speed of 40 miles per hour.

"Do you really want to go back home?" he asked.

"Of course, I don't want everyone to be worried." I reasoned. The group then turn silent as the fences and the construction shot a glare at us. "Did they decide to build something?"

"You want to go home. Well, here it is." My eyes widened at the sight.

"What happened?" Rena timidly asked. The car stopped.

"Yesterday, at 11:55 PM, there was a gas leak that spread throughout Hinamizawa. There were around 2000 villagers that died and about 20 that were missing. You're dead lucky you went to her, Keiichi. Otherwise, your body would've been found dead along with the other classmates."

"C-C-Classmates?!" Rena shriek. I widened my eyes.

"Yes. Mion and Shion were found dead along with their classmates and staff."

"What about Satoko?" Rena asked politely. Oishi shook his head.

"Couldn't find her since she was part of the people that were missing." He pushed the lever down, shutting the engines to power off. "As for Rika, she was found near the shrine with her insides taken out." Hearing those words were enough to make me turn green. "Well, you two are considered the last of Hinamizawa." He rubbed his head, and then turned his body to adjust his view to us. "If you'd like, you can stay over at my my place." I turn to Rena, begging for an answer that's only from her.

"No." she said with that denial tone. Then she got out of the car and bowed to our driver. "Thank you for driving us home." She then ran over to the gate.

"And Maebara, here is the key to It." he puts his hand out to me, with a specific metal key. I took it and nodded and went over to Rena's side. His car engine started and faded through the woods. I injected the key in the hole of the gate, and turned it to the left, causing a little click which signaled open. We walked inside, looking to and fro through the now lifeless village. I decided to go search my house, and felt a grab on my arm as I was just about to walk. Rena was clinging onto me with her body steadying down and tears splurging out, causing some small puddles to appear on the ground.

"Why did my loved ones die? They were just happy and smiling one day at the van and…and…" she continued to cry, this time into my chest, with her hands grasping my waist. I tried rubbing her head, but it held no effect. Then I tried doing the same with her back, and it ended up the same result. I then back away from her and looked at her teary eyes. With courage showing its light on my body, I calmly raised her chin so that her eyes met mines. Shutting my eyes, I edged in closer and kissed her.

Author's Notes: Erm, I'm not sure if it's really a RenaxKeiichi fluff, and whether to have another chapter, but let me know in a review! R&R!

Edited: I actually killed all the semi colons that's been flying around in this chapter (hope that clears out the confusion) and also drove it to past tense (there might be some tense typos, but I'll try to catch them). Sorry for the long delay of the second chapter. I didn't realized that this trimester's been a humongous package of work (and I thought last trimester was the biggest pain). Anyways, the second chapter should be out by next week or so. Again, I apologized for this late delay.


	2. Food

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've made another Higurashi game.

My mind went blank, as if I just fell into a pit of nothingness. I then found myself blocking the sun rays from my eyes. My eyes wandered around the room, absorbing the details of my surroundings. I don't know how I got into this room -take that back, _my room_. I then heard a groan near my right side and my heart panicked when I felt another human flesh rubbed its skin against mine. My eyes widened, and my thoughts wandered off to a world full of questions. _What did we do? How did we end up here? Why are we naked? Did we do it safely?! _My throat felt dry when the person next to me spoke.

"Keii….chi?!" Rena's voice called out. She heavily blushed like a piece of paper that's been constantly painted with red. I felt hot around my cheeks and directed my interest towards the nearby wall. That caused another rub. With that, I then noticed what our awkward position is: Her little, but gentle hands on my chest, her right knee to my hips area, my arms that bear hugged her upper body. That explains the weight that's been on my… yeah. We both didn't moved, but we both lived life. She was breathing at fast paces for probably our situation. Swallowing very slowly, I tried talking again.

"Did we," I paused. "do…" My voice then faded through the sand like a dehydrated orphan. My eyes fell down to Rena's, as I noticed that she was still blushing like a hot potato. She closed her eyes for a second. Then a minute. I was locked onto her face, taking in the info of how God designed her. Another minute passed, and the unexpected came. Suddenly, she crushed her lips against mine, and dug through my mouth. I was surprised and confused at first, but I returned her kiss, my tongue enlaced with hers. From what seem like many hours, we broke our kiss to let the air tame our suffocating lungs. I felt my heart beating as if a jumping jigger was having too much fun inside. It was my first time having such a feeling, not including unconditional love. Rena then looked down, covering her eyes with her hair. _Curse you gravity_. Then I heard sobs, very faint ones. I gave her an expression consisted of both confusion and worry. My body was then forced down as Rena hugged me. Her sobs became louder, and it was muffled through my chest. My heart ached at this sight.... yet my hormones were blasting hyper with joy. Rena then looked up to me, tears traveling from her eyes.

"Please help me get through this." was her last message before she carried on. To have her parents divorced, her dad being fooled, and her paranoia to go to the max must be one of the worst and painful experiences. She slid on top of me... and we carried on as she said.

***********************************************

Everything was a blur: the sensational rubbing, the ongoing pleasure of delight. It was as if we entered into a world full of bliss and delight. There is no description in words that could match our own form of pleasure. Of course, I started out gentle with Rena, and tried my best to cover the pain with the thrusts. Although I don't have as much stamina as I usually do during the afternoon, I was occasionally fueled by Rena's moans. Her satisfaction is probably the reason why I increased my speed by tenfold. What may have looked like minutes, this actually took hours. We both whispered our names when we unleashed.

************************************************

I struggled with putting on my pants due to how much sweat that's already formed on my skin. It took a couple of minutes before I got them on completely. Then I glanced at the clock that read 1:00 PM.

"Man, it's been that long? By now we should've been done with lunch….if we had class." I whispered to myself. I then heard Rena slipped on some clothes behind me, which snapped back to reality as I resumed clothing back on. The shirt wasn't a big deal since it had buttons.

"Keiichi-kun?" Rena walked to my side. She held a shy, but cute expression. My thoughts then ran off to time and the topic of lunch. Apparently, the bento box I brought to the hospital visit was only 1 for myself. _Stupid Keiichi._

"Ah, well for food, err, I think I got some yen that my parents left me." I searched around my room for a while and found my piggy bank lying on the shelf. I then unplugged the rubber plug from the bottom and out came a little stream of coins. "1000…1500…2000…2500 yen." I counted.

"Hau, it's okay. We don't have to go out. I got some food stored in the van. Besides, it's best to be using our money wisely." She winked at me and brushed her lips against mine. I broke the kiss earlier than usual, as I do not feel as much stamina to start the game for our tongues.

"Sorry, my HP bar needs its batteries. We should get going." She nodded. "…and for the fact that there might be another treasure for ya." I smiled, and waited for her usual reaction.

"H-Hau! Let's go there now!" Her hand gripped mines and everything became a blur before I realized I was right where Rena wanted to go: The 'Treasure' Place. "Hehe, I wonder what's new." While she was off doing her duty, I slipped into her van. The inner border of the van was taken by a lot of 'cute' stuffs aligned with each other. I laid down my tired and hungry body, and waited for Rena along with her 'treasure' hunting. My eyes slowly closed, as my body was signaled to shut down.

"Keiichi-kun?" I groaned and moved to the side, only to have more stuffed animals bouncing and falling onto me. I opened my eyes and there stood Rena with something yellow on her hands. "Yay! Look at what I found!" She showed me her 'cute' thing. It was a dirty Pikachu doll.

"I see I see." I replied, as I kept my voice interested in Rena. "Hehe, I'm going to take you home." She rubbed her face with the doll. I sighed. "Oh yeah! Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I nearly forgot about the food." She paced around the van, and whipped out two bento boxes. "Here you go, Keiichi-kun." She slid the box lunch into my hands. "Don't worry. It's all fresh. I usually hide these once a day in case of any emergency."

"Then what do you do if it's not an emergency?"

"Use it as my dad's lunch the next day."

"Wait, don't food get bad the next day if you pack it like this?"

"I got this pretty cool machine that sucks up all the air in it so that it doesn't get bad." She held out a white looking box that apparently looked like a printer. "Watch! Watch!" She slid in a plastic bag which held inside her bento box and pressed a button. Impressively, just as she said, the air got sucked in. "Anyways, go and dig in 'cause I can see that 'drool flipping out of your mouth' hehe." I laughed along with her and opened the lid, revealing rice balls, veggies, and fish. I grabbed the chopsticks that's been laid out on the side of the box and started out with the fish.

"Holy crap, this is way better than my mom's cooking. Heck all we use is canned food." Rena giggled at my comment.

"Nah these leftovers are barely anything." I gobbled down the remaining fish, then moved onto the vegetables.

"Man, even these veggies taste good. I usually hate them when my mom forced me to eat them." As soon as I was done with that section, Rena edged in and gave me a gentle peck.

"I'm glad that you enjoy them." Soon after we finished, my mind flashed out a question that I've been trying to ask.

Author's Notes: Phew, after dealing with several projects and tests, I finally managed to release this chapter. Happy Valentines day! R&R.

Edit: I mostly edited the first half of the chapter x.x;; but I got about 200 words more than the old one w00t!


	3. Suspicions Pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've had all games and novels in English subs FOR FREE!

"Hey Rena." She adjusted her attention to me, eyes filled with innocence.

"Hmm?"

"Erm, how should we deal with life? Like money, food, shelter, you know…" She looked at her lap, her face obscured by her hair. With that, I felt as if I needed something to get her cheered up. "Ah, I guess I can work and-"

"I'm not quite sure." She held eyes that seem to be speaking 'I'm sorry.' She looked down again, and I can tell she's dead worried about her own answer. Watching her doing that was enough for me to put down my chopsticks and do something about it. She was a bit surprised when I slid down the chopsticks onto the bento box. I then reached up to her and kissed her. Powered up by the bento, I started the tongue game. We broke up a moment later, trying our best to have air shoved into our lungs. I then remembered Oishi's offer.

"You know, we could go to Oishi and-"

"No." I shot her a confused look.

"How come?" Rena looked down, and I guessed she's trying her best to speed up the process of converting her thoughts to words.

"I don't feel as if I should trust him." She held onto a worried expression.

"Why? He's still a good man." Unless if Oishi's some insane gun-hogging drunk, then I don't see how a policeman should be doubted.

"Then why wasn't he considered a survivor? Where are the reporters? The flashing lights?" Rena pupils blurred into a shadow value of blue, and her voice deepens as to pierce through a person's flesh by sound.

"He lives in Okinomiya; not Hinamizawa." I tried reasoning.

"He still comes to Hinamizawa…" She drew back a bit, as to defend a claim.

"H-How does that have anything to do with this?" I started to feel creep out by Rena's sudden change of tone. She then blinked, and her natural self has been restored. Then she fainted. I hurriedly caught her and notice the moisture of her skin on her forehead has been increased.

"H-Hey! Are you alright?!" I felt worried and troubled about the situation. It wasn't everyday that you see your lover being passed out after acting like they want to kill somebody so bad they could taste the blood in their mouth. "Get a hold of yourself!" Her head starts to turn red, as if suffering from a fever. "Just wait for a little while; I'll go get some water!" I quickened my pace through the window, and ran like a crazy cheetah hunting its own kind. The destination I ended up, which I also planned to be at, was my house. I flung open my door like a lock-picker breaking in to steal as much as they can and went to the kitchen. Then I scanned through the cabinets aligned on the mid-right edge and found a pack of water. Reaching up, I grabbed the caps of two water bottles from the pack. Along the way, I snatched a cloth beside the sink using my other free hand. With everything that seemed just like a second, I was back, wet cloth in hand, and wiping off sweat that's constantly forming on Rena.

I looked out the window. It was getting dark. Rena was still unconscious. Every 10 minutes I would add a bit more water on the cloth, as it'll turn into a hot potato the next 10 minutes. I then noticed Rena's eyes opening, showing her usual blue eyes. My heart jumped a bit and my reflexes forced my hand onto hers. It's still warm like a cooked beef that's been sitting out for 3 minutes.

"How are you doing?" She turned her head towards me and smiled.

"I'm okay now. Please get me my medicine." I nearly have forgotten that the doctor has given Rena medication whenever she has awkward symptoms. He has also warned that if she starts to claw out her throat, it is best to take her back into the hospital's arms.

"Where is it?"

"My right pocket. I can't feel any strength to move right now." I reached down to where she directed, and felt a round cap. I pulled it out, revealing a medication container with the name 'HS-LV' in big bold letters. I opened it and there it showed a pile of pills that are colored blue. I moved my eyes towards the directions label, which is posted right below its name. It read 'Take 1 tablet per day as needed for HS symptoms.' I reached in and picked out a pill. I then signaled Rena to take it. She slowly opened her mouth. I gently placed it in her mouth like giving a child his/her first vitamin tablet.

"Would you be needing wate-" Right at that second, Rena gulped it in. I was a bit surprised at how she handles medication.

"Won't be needing to." She smiled. "My paranoia of the past week is still within me."

"Then, about Oishi.." I paused, deciding on what to say.

"I don't want to go with him though. I still feel a strange force that's been forming in his aura." I nodded my eyes, understanding her words.

"What do you want to do then?"

"Stay here." She directed her eyes up to mines. "With you."

"I see. Then how can we get food? Everyone's dead out here- not that I'm putting any offense on them."

"We can go to Okinomiya." My eye brown shifted, as to bring up a confused expression.

"I thought you said you want to stay here."

"Hehe, Okinomiya's okay." Her playful look then changed into a deadly serious expression, like a devil awakening itself in a cute doll. "But in 1 condition."

"Y-Yeah?" My thoughts wandered back to her suspicions of Oishi.

"I don't want to ever have any contact with Oishi. He'll be considered a stranger from there on."

"Won't you get used to him someday and talk to him?"

"Until when that time comes. I highly doubt it'll ever happen though."

"I see."

"You should also avoid any contact with him."

"How come?"

"For my sake. I don't want to see you with a man surrounded by strange aura."

"Okay. I'll try my best. But what if you're not there with me?"

"I'd still won't let you. The more contact you make with him, the more contact you make with him in the future. And that'll reach to the point where I'll see you with him."

"I see. Then i-it's settled."

Author's Notes: Sorry for the extremely long delay. I've been sick the past month and my computer's been overflowed by viruses jacking up everything. I got rid of them, but there are still signs of viruses' tracks showing up in my streams and music area. Like this random radio playing in my computer when all my programs are closed and signed out. It talked about breast exam and then it went to some jack in the box commercial and then it played rock music for no reason. I'm going to have a tech friend of mines fix this problem soon. If he fails, I'll be most likely be reformatting my computer. Until then, I'll be packing up some files to upload in Mediafire/Megaupload so that after reformatting, I can retrieve these files that I trust to the fullest extend. Anyways, that's my life story. Alright, since it just seems too happy-joy type, I decided it's best to build a conflict so that the story can live on. I mean like, a story isn't a story without a huge big conflict(s) …right? Expect to see an update of this chapter and a release of the next soon!

Edited: Alright, I added in some more similes to boost up the length of this and got rid of some confusion.


	4. Suspicions Pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi nor Naruto (a little hint of it in what Rena says during the bath). If I did, I would've have more products featuring RenaxKeiichi and make Naruto Shippuden episodes more interesting than just fillers.

"I would like it if we were back home. To be more comfortable, that is."

"Yours or mines?" I had a sense that Rena's better off in her own house. But then again, I won't know what's where to provide our needs.

"Doesn't matter. As long as you're suitable with it." I held her up and helped led her out of the van. Once we're on solid ground, I then gently placed her in a position of being piggybacked.

"Then, I guess you won't mind snuggling in my own place." I winked at her.

The journey back took a long while, as I am not fueled physically enough to be enduring this long walk. I don't give a care if my arms are to be torn apart into 2 broken pieces of flesh. I continued to push through the roads, fueled mentally by Rena.

From what seemed like an eternity, I was back to my house. I slowly released my grasp on Rena, carefully sliding her down. From my eyes, Rena seemed a bit paler like those vampires from the horror movies. Not that I'm putting any offense on representing her as a vampire.

"Are you okay?" She faintly nodded. I take that as a 'no'.

"I-I just need some rest." Now I take that as a 'no, need rest'.

"Okay then." While entering the front door, I noticed that Rena seemed to be swaying through her path like a penguin walking in slow-mo. With that, I supported her through the way. Ending up in my room, I cautiously placed her on the futon, covering her with blankets like a cute little girl getting ready for a bedtime story. I noticed she was breathing heavily in her place. "Everything's going to be alright." I kissed her forehead. Then I head towards the kitchen, scanning for something clean and white. Once spotted, I flung it open to reveal a couple of ingredients and leftovers. Since I'm dead hungry, I decided to heat up the leftovers. Gobbling through them alone wasn't my idea. I turned the knob to open a cabinet, revealing some trays that have been unused for a while now. After putting the dishes on the tray, I carefully carried it to where Rena's been resting. It wasn't a fast trip, as I was about to trip along the stairs. Placing the tray near Rena, I just noticed her color's returned to its own place. "You must've been dead hungry, aren't you?" Rena smiled and signaled a nod. Grabbing the chopsticks from its place, I handed it over to her. Before long, we were chomping through the fish, the rice, and the veggies 'n meatballs. Feeling satisfied with our nourishment, we both turned our heads to hygiene. "You want to go first or…" My breath was in traffic.

"Both?" Our heads were deeply colored in red like tomatoes.

"I-I guess it's okay." I weakly replied. "I'll g-get the water ready in the tub." I paced to the bathroom, where the tub sat, waiting for another splash of liquid to fill its bowl. I turned the knob so the pathway of the hot water continues its journey. There was also another knob responsible for the cool water. I then turned the 'cool water' knob so the temperature of the water in the tub was warm. Once the tub was full enough to fit 2 human bodies, I prepared myself for the relaxing paradise that I'll be having in bare skin. Noticing that we'll be having 2 residents entering the tub, I hung up 2 towels near the tub: 1 long towel that was normally used by my mom, and 1 short towel that was my own. Once everything looks finely placed, I signaled Rena that everything's ready. We both slipped into the water. From my point of view, it felt like a dramatic season change from winter to summer. Figuring that I still have things to clarified, I started up a conversation. "What kind of aura is Oishi's? I get that it's strange, but I want to know how strange it is." Rena's expression fell.

"I thought I told you…" She then looked to her left. By her tone, I felt as if an ice was rolling down my cheek.

"Well, I don't quite understand." I tried reasoning.

"It's like a feeling that you shouldn't be just hanging out with him. You can picture it as a child that holds a devilish power that they don't even know. And just one day, that power can unleash a beast that'll control that child to its enjoyment."

"I see…" Our bath went along, silence taking in the room. "Living with the syndrome must be tough."

"But for my sake," She held my shoulder and shot me a serious expression. "Don't ever contact him. Ignore him as much as possible." she restated. I nodded like a boy that's been ordered by his parents. Night passed by, with only troubling thoughts in my mind about Oishi.

The bright gaze of the sun called out 'it's time to get up'. I tried a counterattack by shading myself, showing an acknowledgement that I'm literally waking up. Adjusting my body forward, I sat up. Remembering that I slept with Rena, I decided to have a check up on her condition. I moved my eyes downward, to where Rena and her cute little figure lied. She looked much better, with no more paleness on her cheeks. I smiled and leaned in to kiss her forehead, expecting for her to wake up. Winning the self bet, she blinked a few times, before noticing the touch I applied.

"Good morning." She smiled. "How are you?"

"Not as bad as yesterday. What about you?"

"Same here." With the pros and cons I had summed up between yesterday and today, I would say that I'm more relieved today. Turning to the clock, it read 8:35 AM. "Maybe we should rise and shine along with the sun and get our fuel for today." She nodded, which is an improvement from yesterday's 'signal of nodding'. I backed away to have some space cleared up, and sat up. Right at that moment, my entire body stopped in its place and its function once I heard something: My doorbell ringing. Rena then spoke.

"I wonder who's here to visit us." With that, my body finally had the authority to move again, like a dead man revived into a normal person. "Do you want to answer the door?" I nodded, then got up and went through the hallway and stairs. Stopping right at the doorway, I turned the knob, slowly. Opening it, it revealed the one person who I feared the most at this time, especially when Rena's at a closer range. A sweat drop forced its path down my sides to my chin, like a spider walking down the spout.

"Maebara, what's wrong with your face?" It was Oishi. Remembering Rena's message, I scrambled my thoughts, deciding what my words should be.

"A-Ah, I'm just surprised you came by." _Idiot, that's too conversational. _"Why did you come?"

"Well, I heard that you and Rena have been living here for a while now. Just want to see if you're still reconsidering on life in this rugged place."

"I'm staying here with Rena, so I have nothing to reconsider." _Getting rid of Oishi might take a while. Please hang on, Rena!_

"Hmmm, then what about food? Here just take this." He grabbed my wrist and slapped something on my palm. It was an envelope, a fat envelope. "At least this'll work for the meantime. I'll be coming here every month to support you." A chill ran through my spine when he said 'Every month'.

"W-Wait! We're planning on working and I think it's best if we just live off of what we work for." Oishi laughed.

"Not like I'm going to let you off for a couple of months. Besides, this is the money I got from the government. I was ordered to give you this. Otherwise, you'll have to the airport alone, and that's a long way from Hinamizawa and Okinomiya."

"Just give me the address and the schedule, and I'll go there at the designated time and location."

"Well, truth is, they will only send me the money. You'll have to convince them in your parents' place. I'm the only adult you know in this area."

"T-Then, I'll convince them. How do I contact them?" Oishi dug through his side pocket, and flipped out a card.

"Good luck on it. Where's Rena?"

"A-Ah, she's sleeping right now. Best not to disturb her."

"Alright, give my concerns to her. If she ever has severe symptoms, go to the hospital." With that, the door closed. Behind me, I heard footsteps patting down the stairs.

"Was that Oishi?" I turned around to find Rena looking at the floor. I didn't find any reason to lie.

"Y-Yes. I tried my best to get rid of him."

"I see. So he won't be seeing us again?"

"He's forced to see us once per month to give us this envelope that's sent from the government. To cut out that deal, I have to convince the government to only send _us_ not Oishi, which I have their contact card right here." I showed Rena the card. "The government believes that Oishi is sort of our 'guardian'."

"What's in the envelope?" Her gaze was locked onto the envelope I'm holding.

"Don't know how many bills, let's find out." I opened the lid, then dug out what's been hanging in there. "Now that is a fat envelope..." There were a bunch of bills, all stuffed in to make the capacity of the envelope full.

"I don't see why Oishi should be the guardian of money."

"Yeah, he could've stolen it. Now we have to 'convince' the government." I tightened the hold on the bills.

Author's Notes: My tech tried everything he could, and he'll be coming later again this week or so to see the results. I just got sick again this week, and I've been sneezing my head out ever since. As for the fiction, I think it's more like the buildup/relief of the conflict, more or less of how you view it. Other than that, I'm off to sleep. Looking at electronics been giving me headaches. R&R.

Edited: Alright, I cleared off some other confusion, and that involves the bear hug when Keiichi already sat up in the first place. Then I also cleaned off the "Don't know, let's find out" into "Don't know how many bills, let's find out" since Keiichi already knows there's money in it, but not the amount of bills.


	5. Suspicions Pt 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've had an arc where there was really an alien invasion (from last arc in season one), and Rena along with Keiichi survived.

My sweat slid onto the phone, as I punched in the numbers to the government. Facing with the government brought a cold chilled feeling that I've wanted to be consecrated within hell for these bloody months.

_"Ah! P-Please, I'll give you my lunch money." I shoved my gun deeper into the little boy's stomach._

_"Is that all you have?" I smirked at his scared puny face. The boy shivered, but remained quiet. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"_

_"Y-Yes. That's all I got in my backpack. J-Just don't point that gun." His eyes were in constant fear: afraid of the gun, afraid of death. Yet, in my case, it was just an ordinary fake model gun._

_"I need to, or else you'll be one of the survivors that didn't do as I say." He gulped at the word 'survivors', and rammed through his pockets. After having three dollars dug out of his right pocket, I snatched it away from him, shoving the bills into my own pocket. I then drew back my model gun, and the boy felt relieved to be released._

Memories from that time, where I conquered all the little kids with my model gun, frightened me when I came to this point to face the government… again. Meeting them once was enough. But with Rena still suffering the syndrome, Oishi's presence was off-limits.

"Hello?" I felt a loss of breath for a second.

"Ah, is this the government?"

"Yes, and what do you need?"

"I'm Maebara Keiichi and I want to stop the funds that are transferred from Oishi to me." _Well that was a start._

"Hmmm, Maebara… Let me check the files real quick." There were some papers being scrambled heard. "Ah, Maebara Keiichi and Ryuuguu Rena, the survivors of Hinamizawa's great disaster. Unfortunately, Oishi is the only guardian you have and known. Unless if you want to wait two years to get your own right, you have to have your funds transferred by an adult you know and trust." As Oishi said earlier, he was the only one that was our 'guardian'.

"Well, I don't trust Oishi and neither does Rena. Is there anyway you can transfer the money without Oishi?" I felt a sweat drop sliding down the side of my cheek.

"Sorry, but the rules say that you must have a parent or guardian, or an adult you at least know to transfer government funds. In this case, Oishi's a policeman and a trustable person to take the position."

"Why would you say that? He could just take away our funds and use it as his own."

"Don't worry; I got spies on this one. He ain't leaving with the money. Besides, isn't the airport far away from here?"

"I don't care about that! I'll walk there from the crack of dawn if I have to!" _Now I'm getting irritated. _I felt a giant force that got the phone out of my grip. It was Rena who got the phone and answered.

"Then we don't want your money at all! If Oishi has to come here every month, I rather die than see his idiotic face!" I was surprised by her tone and volume. There was a pause for the government to have their say. Unfortunately, nothing was heard from my point of view. "Hah? He's a 'guardian'? That's ridiculous! Then we don't even need your money! We'll work as young adults and live off of it ourselves! We don't need the government and Oishi to stick their noses in our business!" I'm scared of Rena now. She looked as if she's been annoyed for a thousand years. She then hung up the phone, and clanged it against the table. I noticed she was taking deep breaths before talking to me.

"You okay? It seems the conversation was getting very hot." She nodded, and her hand reached to my cheek. Her hand slid downward to my chin. She then smiled.

"That's why you shouldn't argue with me before I eat breakfast." _I get your point now. _"Now, I should be getting breakfast ready. You want to buy some groceries with the money we received?" I nodded. She then grabbed a random piece of white paper that was placed right next to the phone, and quickly wrote down a shopping list. "Just go to the market in Okinomiya. And I wouldn't want you contacting Oishi, of course." She handed me the list.

"I won't. I'll try my best to avoid a conversation." She looked satisfied with that, and I headed through the front door to make my way to the market. The rest of the village looked dead, as if all the villagers evacuated for their life. _I don't feel any strange aura with Oishi though. I guess Rena has a special ability in her syndrome that might've caused her to be paranoid when Oishi's presence is in her range. _By the time I finished my thoughts, I was already in front of the Okinomiya market. Buying all the items wasn't a hard task, but it took a lot of patience skills. I was with the cart, all items listed in there, being the second to last in the line. _Dude, don't these guys shop elsewhere. I guess they're too lazy to go through miles to another market._

From what seemed an eternity, I was finally checking out my items. The money in the envelope was enough for probably ten times the cost of these items in the cart. I then walked out with my items in plastic bags, and headed to my house. It wasn't as easy as when I went through the path to the market. Instead, I struggled through the pounds that these bags that pulled against me. After twice the time that took me to the market –maybe quadrupled, I was at my house. I then released the tons that weighed me down the pathway, and opened the door for clearance. Going back to the bags, I took their weight again and settled them down near the kitchen.

"Keiichi-kun, you won't have to think about seeing Oishi again." That was quite surprising, and I tried coming up with the possibilities that caused her to announce that. I thought of the worst, and scurried to the kitchen, where I saw Rena, billhook cleaver in hand, stained with blood. "Because he no longer exists." I felt myself shocked at the sight, even though she didn't had Oishi's corpse.

"R-Rena, why did you-"

"Killed him? It was the only way to solve this mess." She smiled evilly.

"You didn't have to kill him! Think about Rina and Teppei! You're going back to where you started! Killing him would make it worst!"

"Shut up."

"You have to think! Not act! You-" I was silenced with a hit on my head damaged by the back of the cleaver. Rena's eyes looked filled with anger and hatred. She raised the cleaver again. Another hit. Then she dropped the cleaver, which landed with a clang. I decided to speak up. "Are you satisfied?" Although my voice was soft, it was still audible. Rena fell forward to the ground, like a doll that's been shoved down. I tried to find her pulse, but there wasn't a single one. Scared, I quickly grasped the phone in my hands, and called 911.

Author's Notes: So it's basically Rena landing back into her paranoia state to the point where she couldn't take it anymore. I won't be planning to set the next chapter as the last one, since there's still ideas out there in my mind that motivates me to add in this story. Sorry it tend to be more like 'handling someone who's gone through syndrome' than 'loving someone', but with Oishi out of the way (I apologize to you Oishi fans, but I hate him, and I'm going to hate him to the end), the problem with Oishi is solved… the killer's way. Other than that, I don't think I want to shove in some stupid excuses so I'll be saying R&R!


	6. Hospital

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've made more Higurashi products.

I heard her breath, and it was in fast paces, which kept me worried. And here I was, clinging onto the phone like that scared boy whom I pointed the gun at.

"Please! Hurry and get your butt here right now! My friend's suffering the Hinamizawa syndrome and she needs support right now!" I shivered to the point where I could barely keep my grip steady on the phone.

"Don't panic son, we're sending in the Okinomiya's hospital team right now. They should be here in about a minute." With that, I hung up, and stared back at Rena and her unconscious self. I was still in shock, but not enough to keep me paralyzed. I then moved towards her and pulled her up so that her face was facing mines. Then I carried her, my left hand focused on her head, and my right hand on her legs.

"You're going to be alright, Rena." Even though I didn't have my daily breakfast, I still had some muscle left for usage. Moving through the door, I kicked it open, and it revealed to be a couple of medical doctors scrambling to my position, –our position.

"We'll be taking it from here." One of the doctors had the stretcher.

"Be careful with her." I then placed Rena on the stretcher, where the doctors were about to load her into the truck. I climbed in after Rena got in, and the truck sped on, making the same siren noise. I sat on a nearby bench attached to the truck, and had my hand with Rena's. _Keep on fighting. _It wasn't long until we reached to the hospital, where the doctors scrambled through the doors for clearance of the stretcher. Other doctors then came to guide Rena on the stretcher to the emergency room. Releasing my hand from hers, I allowed them to do their job. Then I stared off into Rena as she was pushed through the double doors, and scurried off into the nearest emergency room. I remained in my position until a doctor came over.

"You okay? Is she a friend of yours?" I swallowed the sadness that's been shown on my face, and replied.

"Yes, my girlfriend, to be exact." He noticed that I looked down, as sadness fought their way into my expressions section.

"Don't worry, we'll try everything we can to help her. In the meantime, do you want to eat anything? You looked a bit pale." I nodded. "What restaurant do you want to go to? I'll treat you in this one." The only thing that popped in my mind was the only restaurant I've been to in my life in Hinamizawa.

"Angel mort."

"Then, Angel mort it is." I then looked up at the doctor. He had short black hair that's been kind of ruffled, and he worn the same outfit that the rest of the doctors were in. We made our way to the restaurant since it wasn't that far from here. Since we arrived pretty early, there were a bunch of openings for tables. We took the table that had the window on the side, which reminds me of the table that Oishi and I talked in the other world that I've found myself in with paranoia. After ordering our food, the doctor proceeded to the chat zone. "Maebara Keiichi, is that your name?"

"Yes." I sipped my hot tea, as its heat transferred to my body.

"Mine's Hesoy Moto. I heard from my team that you guys are both the survivors. With that boiling up the news crewmembers, we've been trying to scat away those reporters. The good thing is that Okinomiya is under control when it comes to these types of things. They won't give a care if Britney Spears takes her time scrolling around this place." I raised an eyebrow to that.

"Is that so? I thought this place was filled with perverts that's dying to be accompanied with the women here."

"Well, people change, especially after the Hinamizawa disaster. Most of the people we used to know are now out of this town, either went to Tokyo or some other place. They feared that the gas might spread to this place, and the people you see scrolling in this area are just the ones who have no other place to go. We also build ourselves a self security system for this town, to not allow anyone to come in except residents of Hinamizawa, which includes you and Rena, and the ones that has lived in this town." A worker came to our table with dishes of food.

"Here are your rice balls with sushi." She placed the dish in front of Moto. "And here is your cooked fish with rice." She turned to the opposite direction, and went back. Moto grabbed his chopsticks and started out with the sushi.

"Isn't it a bit awkward to be eating raw food in the morning?" It took a while before Moto responded.

"Well, your ways of eating is different from mines." He smiled and continued to chomp down his meal. "Isn't yours a weird combination?"

"Rather not. It is a good warm up meal that gets me going for the day." I held onto my own chopsticks and started to chomp down my meal. Couple of minutes later and we were done and satisfied for our morning meal.

"Then, Maebara, how is life working out?"

"Going good, until when Rena starts suspecting Oishi."

"I see. I guess she still needs better treatment for this 'Hinamizawa Syndrome'. Have you experienced it?" I felt uncomfortable to have my 'other world' to be involved in this conversation.

"No, I still haven't, yet." It felt like a gun hole being buried into the depths of the heart.

"I see."

_"At least, not in this world." _I whispered to myself.

"Did you say something?"

"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just talking to myself."

"Well, I guess I should be taking the bill." He rammed through his pockets for his wallet, and pulled out a couple of yen bills. He then raised his hand for the waitress to have them excused. After heading out, we both went back to the hospital. "Maebara, I hope you take good care of Ryuuguu." _I will alright. _I nodded. "Hopefully they're done with her, she's in the emergency room 201. Just go to the right and take a left and you should see it." Just as Moto instructed, I ended up in front of Rena's room. I grasped my right hand onto the knob, and turned it. Most of the sweat droplets coming down my head are from the fear of Rena's possible death. I opened the door, and there were two doctors that monitored Rena. One of them spoke up.

"We can't find any sign of life in her. It's as if she hallucinated herself into a state where she had no will to live." My heart sank down to the pits of hell. _Rena is… dead?! _"We're sorry." Tears rushed and made their way out. I hurriedly hugged Rena, whom felt cold in temperature.

"P-Please don't die on me! Rena!" The door slammed open, revealing doctor Moto with a syringe.

"Set aside guys, I think I got a cure for this!" I didn't bother to have my attention adjusted to him, as I kept my grip on Rena's lifeless body. She was still stained with blood, and only worn her night gown for room for the electrocute technology. Moto came up to me, and held onto my shoulder.

"Can I try out this syringe?" I then released Rena, and hoped for goodness sake that his cure for the syndrome would work. He injected it right to her neck, as the fluids from the syringe entered through her veins. A couple of moments later, there was a gasp from Rena. All I could do is stand agape. She examined her surroundings, but once she caught my presence, she jumped up to me with happiness shown in her eyes. We both ended up on the floor, and both in lip locked.

"I think we should get going." I heard one of the doctors say. Too bad my attention was more focused on Rena's tongue enlaced with mines. I pushed her more against my body, thankful that her status was living, not dead. After we broke the long passionate kiss, we both intake as much air as there is. The door swung open again, and doctor Moto came through. With his presence, a questioned popped in my mind.

"Hey Moto, how'd you do it?" I still hugged Rena, with her head rested on my shoulder.

"Do what?" He held a puzzled face.

"Make a cure for the Hinamizawa syndrome."

"Well, I got some medication that was left in doctor Irie's cabinets. He used to be a tutor for my medical group. After I turned out to be the best student out of the rest, he gave a couple of these syringes. He then said that when the time comes, I'll need it. I take his word for it, and thought very hard about it. When we finished our conversation, I started realizing that the fact that doctor Irie was researching about the syndrome and Rena suffering the syndrome both fit in like pieces of puzzle. So I decided to try it out."

"Why would Irie have those?"

"Probably to save everyone from the syndrome. Unfortunately, the day after that, he was found killed by sleeping pills."

"I see. Then, is Rena 'cured', as you said?"

"Most likely, yes." My eyes lit up as Rena kissed on my cheek.

Author's Notes: I'm very surprised at how devoted I got into this fiction (and for the fact that I spent the whole day typing this out). But, as I said in the last chapter, this is not the last you'll be seeing of survivors. I'm going to be focusing this story on other conflicts so it lives on. If you got any good o' ideas to share, don't hesitate to do so, even if you're an anonymous person (I allowed anonymous reviews). So yep, this conflict is down, more to come ...R&R!


	7. Satoko

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've released more Higurashi products.

My eyes widened when a thought popped in my mind.

"What about the death of Oishi?" I wondered about the catastrophe that occurred just a while ago.

"Don't worry; she won't be accused of this. It's only because of the syndrome that caused all this mess." With Moto's reply, the worry that nearly overcame me has been drained to nothing. "Anyways, Ryuuguu," he turned to Rena. "I need to have one last test before I release you. Is that okay with you, Keiichi?" Then he turned towards me. I etched out a smile and nodded.

"It's okay, as long as you aren't a rapist." Both Moto and Rena smirked at my joke. _Well, at least the people here got some good humor. _Moto then guided me outside the room, where I sat on a nearby chair. My thoughts pondered once more. _I really hope Rena is okay. _A couple of minutes passed with me fiddling with my fingers. With more minutes that walked like snails, my patience was growing dangerously close to the impatient side. Fortunately, the door swung open just in time before I got to the point of craziness. Moto was the one that held onto the door knob with Rena at his side.

"Don't worry, she's a-okay and cured, all thanks to Irie's syringe." My heart melted into a blend of happiness, as if it's been freed from the monsters of death. Rena skipped towards me like a kid who's going to receive an ice cream cone. I felt warm arms that coiled me like a generator that pumped warm air to our bodies. That was proof that Rena lived, and in good temperature. I returned the favor with my own form of coiled arms and hugged her closer.

_"Welcome back, beautiful."_ I whispered through her ear. She giggled a bit at that and rustled with my hair.

"I always wondered if you even combed your hair." That shot me right through my insides.

"C-Crap… I didn't." I weakly replied back. We broke our hug.

"Oh well, screw that. I'm not even sure if I even combed my hair myself this morning." She shrugged. Doctor Moto waved his hand as a signal of 'See you' and walked towards his own choice of destination. "Besides, you do look cu~te in that hairstyle." She closed her eyes. "H-Hau…" _This is bad! She's in her take-home form –wait, why am I saying it's bad? It's good to get back home faster woot! _I felt myself being carried by my lover and being rubbed on the cheeks with her own. "I'm going to take you home!" A gigantic force shot me in the back, as if I rode a roller coaster that's supposed to go backwards. In about a minute, that same force has changed back into gravitational force. It seemed that Rena stopped in dead tracks and we're back home. _Or are we? _Unfortunately, when she gently let me down, we were right behind bushes.

"What are we doing here?" I asked. She pointed at another direction. I adjusted my head so that it was analyzing the object that she pointed at. Through a split second I could tell that object was a breathing human, like everyone else. Unfortunately, that human seemed to be cuddled with him or herself.

_"Isn't that Satoko?" _Rena whispered. My eyes widened at the sight of the cuddled figure. I narrowed my eyes to get a clear shot at the person that hugged her knees. When I noticed the yellow-haired former trap master, I quickly took action to get my butt there. She was in front of my house, and still hugged herself and sobbed. I lowered my body to be in her height level.

"Are you okay? Satoko?" She gasped mainly at my voice, and turned her head to me. I noticed her puffy red eyes that endured tears. Then her eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to the point where I can't tell if she's shocked or paranoid. Her arms loomed over her head and she gripped it, with her head faced down and whimpered. "What happened? What got you into this state?" I questioned. It pained me at the sight of this figure that was once the greatest trap master of their school. Now here she is, knees clutched and sobs were unleashed. It took an awfully long while through all the tears and deep breaths to get into answer mode.

"I-I s-saw… Rika…" That already sparked my interest and I got curious in what happened to Rika. Unfortunately, Satoko continued the sobs that distracted her from her o' confident trap master self. "Rik-ka was covered in b-blood an-nd dis-sected a-and b-blood every-ywhere; it just looked so horrible…" My picture of Rika's 'Nipah' has been replaced by the image of a blue-haired girl, lied down, blood splat all over her body, and organs that looked like they were burst out of her body. With that, I felt as if an icy cold hand rubbed against my bare back. Rena came over to Satoko and checked her condition. She looked over to me with worried eyes. Then she walked up to me and whispered something in my ear.

_"She might be suffering from the syndrome…" _A sweat drop ran down my cheek, and down near my chin. _Since when did Satoko even start suffering…? I would like to ask… _But I couldn't. My throat felt too dry, and my lips were stuck together like the water's molecule: H2O; the 2 hydrogen have to be with the oxygen in order to form water; if without water, the water itself won't be existed. I swallowed, even if barely, and I whispered back.

_"W-When did she start having the syndrome?" _I weakly replied to Rena. Her brows furrowed even more, which doesn't seemed like a good sign.

_"By looking at her state… probably a long time ago…" _My eyes widened at her words, especially the 'long time ago'. It repeated in my head like an echo through the hallway. An image of a syringe popped in my mind.

"We should hurry and take her to Moto." My reply came out a bit too loud, and I'm sure that it's enough for Satoko to have that message through her ears. A gasp escaped the trap master's lips and she looked at me with confusion etched on her face.

"M-Moto? Who's t-that?" I looked at Satoko, and smiled.

"A doctor that can cure you from the syndrome."

"W-Which syndrome..?" She looked dumbfounded.

"The Hinamizawa syndrome." Her pupils were back into shock mode.

Author's Notes: Alright, long stupid story here for reason why I didn't update this for 2 months: Got sick for weeks, got done with this chapter, found out my computer's jacked up by a virus (restarting over and over), can't reformat my computer nor find an installation disc, did my own huge gigantic projects for school, had limited usage of the computer (my sister's computer, to be exact), then finally typed this chapter out. Anyways, we all should know that Satoko never knew that she had the syndrome. So I ended it with a boom, the truth is unfold. I will not be as active as I am over the summer because my sister's coming back from graduation (she's graduating from college) and it's her computer that she's going to be using most of the time. I also have to deal with swimming lessons (Mon-Fri; Afternoon to Night. Not fun for me 'cause I don't even know how to float…) and community service (and I mean finding one). So yep, I'm going to be occupied by a lot of stuffs so don't expect an update very soon (probably like every couple of weeks or so depending on my own usage of the computer). Now that this chapter is unleashed, I would be pleased with at least 1 review.


	8. Syringe

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've added in more blood.

Satoko froze in her place, unable to part her lips from the previous announcement.

"I-I…" She swallowed and continued. "Have the Hinamizawa syndrome?" Her voice was a bit shaky to the point where she has the possibility of a sore throat.

"Yes. From Rena's estimate, you probably had it ever since you were little." She looked down and covered her eyes with her hair.

"So that's why I've been having these shots." I felt confused at her statement.

"What do you mean? What shots?" Rena also had the same ponder-like face that I held.

"Everyday, I would have to take these daily shots..." Her pupils showed up, revealing a hint of sadness. "But to think that their purpose was to treat my syndrome that has been in me ever since my parents' death…that's…" She began to sob quietly in her hands. Rena leaned forward to comfort her in anyway possible, but it seemed a bit useless for the time being. _So I guess that Satoko had a regular shot everyday, which is to treat the syndrome that's been in her in the past. But with her believing that they're just regular daily shots, I guess it does kind of have a hard effect on her. _She stopped her sobs right after my last thought, and she began to show courage against her own sadness. "I understand; I'll go with you." Rena flashed a smile at me. But her next movement was something I've nearly panicked about.

"Kei-" Rena closed her eyes, and fell forward. Fortunately, I caught her right before she landed on the rusty floor. _Oh crap, I almost forgot she didn't eat breakfast. _

"R-Rena?!" Satoko nearly reached to my level of worry. "I-Is she okay?" She looked at me with eyes that held concern for her dear friend.

"Don't worry, she just forgot to eat breakfast and that sure does take a lot out of her." I then took Rena back into the house, with Satoko right behind me. Then I laid her on the couch, and hoped that she'll be okay, even for a moment. I headed back into the kitchen and got out an apron. "Well, I guess I'm going to-"

"You've got to be kidding me. With you as the chef, the whole house wouldn't even last 2 minutes." Satoko interrupted with a hint of her trap-master's voice, even though it's mixed with her sadness one. Then she snatched the apron I had in my hands and put it on herself. "I would rather do the honors instead of someone like you." I shrugged, as there is no say in this for me. Her eyes loomed around the room until she caught a couple of bags that sat like there's no tomorrow on the entrance of the kitchen. She made her way to the bags and grabbed a couple of ingredients. I then got bored at the view of her ways of being a chef and settled onto the hand of the couch where Rena was. My hand brushed against her hair as a reflex, and I had my other hand onto hers. I leaned in to make contact with her cheeks with my lips. Her temperature was warm, but not as much as I had expected it to be. As I zoomed out, I noticed her skin tone held a hint of paleness. This got me worried immediately, as it reminded me of the time where she still had the Hinamizawa syndrome. I carefully caressed her cheeks just to have her temperature double-checked. _You're just cured too…_

"We can't take Satoko to the hospital without you." My voice was a little more than a whisper, but I'm sure it was audible to her, not giving a care if she listened or not.

"Ahem!" My body shot up to Satoko's mad-yet-sad voice. "Are you done with seducing Rena? Her breakfast –or brunch, is here." She held a blush that even Irie would probably nosebleed at. I smiled weakly at her.

"Yep. Do I need to carry her there?" Satoko's blush engulfed her face. Just then, I felt a gentle touch on my own hand.

"That won't be necessary." Rena sat up, as I heard a growl from her stomach. She blushed in embarrassment. "A-Anyways, Keiichi-kun should take Satoko to the hospital. I can take care of myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, brunch is served, isn't it?" My mind was still caught on her face as I felt a sharp pain on my head.

"H-Hey, you know what she just said." I assumed that Satoko whacked my head with a soup spoon, since the smell of miso soup is already engraved in my nose. _Wait, that means– _

"Hot!" My hands captured the area where my scalp was burned. I threw Satoko a deadly glance, only to find her expression in worry and concern.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." _E-Eh? Oh yeah, she's still suffering from the syndrome. _I pushed myself out of the couch and tried to ignore the burn that appeared on the side of my scalp.

"It's okay, we have to go to the hospital to retain back your trap-master self." I tried to calm her with a reassuring smile, and the plan had succeeded. She weakly smiled back and started to put on her shoes as she sat on the floor near the front door. I turned to Rena.

"Well, we'll be going then." I smiled. Rena nodded happily and waved at me. I then turned back to Satoko.

"Ni…ni…" I stared at her back as she said the one phrase she normally would've said to her real brother. My lips etched out a grin. _Stupid Satoshi, where are you when your sister needs you? _I headed towards the floor and started to put on my own shoes. We then met the outside world to go to the hospital. It took a couple of minutes to the hospital, as she held onto my hand with hers like a little girl with her older brother. Through the doors, I noticed Moto with another doctor, and they seemed to have a nice conversation going on. _This may seem rude though. Oh what the heck, this is an emergency!_

"Moto, my friend here also has the syndrome. Do you still have the cure?" I interrupted. Moto turned to me with a slight smile planted on his lips, as if I was expected to come back.

"Ah, sure! If you don't mind me Mr. Gojazu, we will continue this later." Moto then led us to a room, where he searched through the cabinets for the syringe. "Alright, here it is." He held the syringe. Satoko tensed up at the sight.

_"It's okay. The syringe's suppost to cure you from your syndrome." _I whispered into Satoko's ear. Her muscles then relaxed at my message.

"Please free an area of your neck. About like an inch square." Satoko did as Moto instructed, as she brushed some strands of her hair from her neck. "This may hurt a little bit, but please bear with it." He injected the fluids within her neck, and a little gasp escaped her lips. A pained look etched her features, as if there's a splinter being taken out of her neck. "Well, she's cured–"

Gunfire was heard through the windows.

Author's Notes: Alright, got through 2 weeks of swimming and I don't feel like I made any process at all. Anyways, yep, another cliffhanger or whatever you want to call it. Sorry if it looks too short, but time has it's limit for me. As for Satoko's voice, think of it as Tatorigoroshi (third arc) where she was a slave to her own uncle. I might be editing this later, unless if reviewers convince me to add chapters ...now R&R! And to Ai Priestess, remember Higurashi no naku koro ni kai with Satoko witnessing Rika dead? Let's just say that happened in here.


	9. Prepare

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've added at least 10 more arcs.

Screams were heard. It was just as if this world came to a sudden stop, like the flashback of the 'dream' I endured through. 'Calm before storm', that's how I would summed it. _One thing I wonder though: What type of storm is this?_ I walked to the window, in which I saw a horrible sight.

Blood was splattered all over the place, on the walls, the ground, even on the windows. There were corpses that lied in different poses, but their status was dead. Only when I saw the white van that I knew who the attackers were. _They were the ones who tried to run me over in that 'dream'! _Among the gray uniformed gunners, I noticed there was a black one. That person wore a black cap and a black gown, which covered almost everything except one thing: her blond hair. _Could that be –wait how the heck would Takano be behind this?_ I pondered more about the situation.

"Ni ni?" My attention was adjusted to the trap master, who looked worried with the gun shooting noises. "What's going on?" I was about to have the situation explained, when a grenade rolled near my foot. I then hurriedly rushed my feet out of the grenade's way and carried Satoko to the hallway. A loud explosion was heard, and I kept my arms around Satoko, as a shield. _These grenades sure are slow at their explosion time. _I looked at my surroundings and sighed for relief when I saw that Moto made it out along with us. His eyes were in shock mode.

"T-That gren-nade blew u-up my c-cures."

"It's probably what they intended." I replied.

"Um… you can let go of me now." I noticed that my arms were still locked around Satoko's back, with her head on my chest. Her face looked flushed, as if she's been stuffed in a room above 100 degrees.

"Sorry about that." I released my arms and rubbed my head. Then I felt a slap on my shoulder from the trap master.

"Jeez, stop apologizing. It's not like you to be like an anime character that's surrounded by girls kicking your butt each day."

"Actually I think I am that anime character before all this mess started." I countered back at the trap master. She merely stuck her tongue back. My face turned serious when I remembered that Rena stayed home.

"We should head back to Hinamizawa; I don't want Rena to be in danger." Satoko nodded, while Moto was still in shock. "Moto, are you willing to come with us, or will you dwell on the destruction of the cures?" He looked as if he snapped out of his trance.

"Of course I'll come with you." He stood up. "Not like I want to stay in the gunfire."

"Then do you know the exit that'll be the opposite direction of the gunfire?" I questioned Moto.

"There should be one around the corner, not too far from here. Follow me." My hand held onto Satoko, just to make sure she's also safe. We both followed Moto through the hallways until we saw an exit that has the sign 'Emergency Only'. Moto opened the door quietly to give us the message 'Sneak out quietly'. All of us got out on our tiptoes, and we continued through the pathway to my house. It took a while through the path, as Moto constantly looked back for followers on the trail.

By the time we finally reached the front door of my house, there was blood that engulfed the windows. Sweat begun it's waterfall on my back, and I felt panicked. I noticed there was a brick off to the side and picked it up as a weapon for the unknown future. Moto took out a pocketknife for his own defense and Satoko was right behind him. I held onto the doorknob, with more sweat that rolled its way to the knob. I then swung the door open, and it revealed many gray uniformed corpses. My eyes scanned the area while we walked through the hallway, until I saw a cleaver on one of the stairs. I signaled with my hand for my squad, and they all followed me to the area where the cleaver sat.

"K-Keiichi-kun…?" My attention adjusted to the voice. Rena sat on the ground and held a pained expression.

"R-Rena!" I rushed over to her and placed my hands on her back for support. "What happened here while we were gone?" It was then that I noticed Rena's irregular breathing. "Y-You okay?"

"Y-Yeah…I'm just tired. When you guys went out, I decided to fix myself something to eat. But by the time I finished eating, I heard a loud noise. There were these unknown gray uniformed men who had these knives and they charged at me. Luckily I dodged enough to get myself over to the closet, which is where my cleaver was. I panicked a bit when I tried to fight them off, though."

"And you did a good job fighting." I commented. Rena smiled weakly.

"Ahem, we should start fighting for our lives by equipping ourselves with better weapons." Satoko spoke. Her face held a hint of redness, as she looked the other way. I held a concern face to Moto.

"Can you please check Rena's condition? I'm going to get my bat from my room." Moto nodded and took my place. I rushed over to the sliding doors, and pushed them off to the side, as if they were just pennies. Then I ran to one of my desks and looked under it, which revealed a bat that was given to me by Satoko. I snatched it as flawlessly as possible, and headed back to the hallway. Moto noticed my presence almost immediately due to my pounding footsteps.

"She has a couple of bruises on her back. I placed some on-the-go medication on those bruises to relieve them." I nodded. Rena wavered while she stood up. She was about to lean towards the southern direction when I had my arms as a support for her back to prevent the fall that might've occurred. The bat fell from my hands in the process.

"T-Thank you." Rena shakily thanked in a tired voice. "Then, what should we do about those men?"

"We have to prepare ourselves first with a set of weapons, which is probably going to be at your 'treasure' place." Rena lit up to the plan. _Hehe, she's getting charged up faster. As expected from her take-home mode!_

"H-Hau! Let's go there now!" With amazing strength and speed, Rena took all of us, along with my bat and her cleaver, on a fast ride of our lives to the 'treasure' place. Of course, there were bunches of 'treasure' everywhere. I turned to Satoko, who held an expression of 'This is more than enough to make 1000 traps!' _Man, I truly envy her and her trap master skills. _I then turned to Moto, who seemed a bit undecided.

"Not a close combat type?" Moto nodded. "Well, these things could also be used for throwing purposes. It doesn't matter if you don't have good aim. Just get whatever that's compact and light so it'll be easier for you to throw it." Moto took my word for it and searched through the endless trash heap. I also looked around for a range weapon, and found a couple of old baseballs laid out near the broken refrigerator. _These are probably handy for mid-range if I were to throw them single-handedly, but if I were to use this bat and hit a home run, then I could use as my far range weapon. _I picked up the baseballs and stuffed them in my pocket.

"Keiichi-kun." I turned my head over to Rena's face. "Do you think I should bring glass shards? Or kitchen knives?" She pointed to the shards and knives area of the 'treasure'.

"Glass shards can probably harm you too, so I think it's best to bring a handful set of knives as a secondary and a range weapon." I answered. "But try looking for a belt for knives if you can. If there isn't one, then tie up some ropes to make a makeshift knives belt." She nodded.

It took a while for the others to get prepared. Rena wield a holster, in which she modified with some materials to store in knives. Since she changed in a casual top-and-bottom instead of her usual dress, it made it much more easier for her to move around like an assassin. Moto took off his doctor's coat and had on a vest, in which he found to have his medical supplies stored in. He still has his pocketknife and a couple of random small things in his pockets while his current equipped weapons were 2 old bottles of sake. Satoko, on the other hand, had unknown materials hidden with her. We had placed some of our old belongings, such as Rena's dress in which she changed out of, in Rena's van.

"Are we ready?" Everyone nodded.

Author's Note: Oh man, I was planning for this to be released on July 4th as a holiday edition, but it seems my laziness has overwhelmed me. As for swimming (for those of you that were interested), I'm actually improving a lot faster than I usually would in my previous years of swimming lessons. Heck, all I got to worry about is trending, breathing, and letting go of my fears (got a couple of sun burns too). Anyways, this chapter's purpose was to reveal the enemies (and if you saw season 2, you know who they are) and to warn the characters that danger is approaching Okinomiya and Hinamizawa. Now let's see them fight on in the next chapter! R&R!


	10. First move

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've added in some hints of crossovers.

My heart pounded with all its might, as sweat slowly rolled down its path on my back. There was so much sweat that my shirt showed signs of wetness. Rena nudged my shoulder, and had on a reassuring smile. We were right behind a wall that divided us from the gunfire. It took a while to get here with all the stuff that weighted on us during our tiptoe assassin walk. My mind flashed back to our meeting in Rena's van.

_"So we have no choice but to ambush them?" I questioned._

_"I'm afraid so. We could try to follow them, but that holds a deadly risk of blowing up our cover." Moto replied._

_"Can't we try following them to their base and ambush them there?" Rena turned to Moto._

_"I don't think they'll return to their 'base' if their mission is to kill all the villagers. They'll have to get rid of us to go back to their own base." Moto scratched his chin. "If we decide to ambush one of the members, we could snatch some info from that member."_

_"That'll still hold a risk of blowing up our cover." I added in._

_"But it's probably the safest and effective tactic at this moment." Moto reasoned. My hand reached up to the back of my neck and scratched it._

_"Then I guess we'll try that." I announced. "Rena and I will be the frontlines, and you could be the ranger. As for Satoko, you just do your thing." I winked at Satoko, and she held on a mischievous smile at my last sentence. "Anyways, we should do this as soon as possible; we don't want those villagers to be caught into the blood fest." Everyone nodded. Then we got on our feet, readied up for the unknown future._

I still held onto the bat that had sweat embedded into the space between my hand and the bat. Then I noticed a gray-uniformed person that began its search alone. He was armed with an AK-47 and a compact knife. I signaled the group to the gray-uniformed man, and they began to tiptoe their way to the person. Right when we're 20 inches away, I had my thumb that crossed the horizon of my neck, which is a signal for termination. Satoko smiled, and had out a ball of who-knows-what's-in-it. She edged in, closer and closer. Then she quickly took action.

With a little breath of the ball, the person got knocked out cold. Rena quickly caught the man, while Moto took the AK-47 just to be safe. I looked around the area for any members of the gray uniformed men. Once the coast was cleared, I pointed my finger to Hinamizawa's direction. The group knew that this was to be meant as 'taking the man to this direction'. I then helped Rena with the man, as we both carried it. Moto took point with the AK-47, while Satoko stayed in the back with her own form of weaponry.

It took a while until we reached Hinamizawa. The person we carried was someone that needed a diet, since it was deadly heavy. _Just what does he eat? _I took a glance of the gray-uniformed man. He had a pudgy face, yet the rest of his body looked like he was in shape. We kept the pace to where Moto lead us, which is an empty house with a few windows. Since the former owner of the house unlocked the door before he faced his death, we entered the house with ease. It was still a bit dusty in the place, but it was enough for us to be covered and not seen. Satoko, as she saw this as a chance, flipped out some ropes and quickly tied the man's limbs. She then tied him onto the chair, which she 'borrowed' from the kitchen. Rena kept her eyes on the man, as she is assigned as the watcher. Moto stood a foot away from the front door with his new weapon, while shielded by a table that's been flipped sideways. He also set up some other random things as secondary shields. Satoko, on the other hand, had prepared a bunch of traps around the house. I stood near Rena and defended the area with her.

After 10 minutes, the man finally woke up. He had on a surprised face, then into an angry one.

"Who are you guys?" His tone of voice was low and mocking-type.

"And who are you guys?" I turned to him.

"Hey, you stupid kid! I asked you first!" He shook the chair, and tried to escape from the ropes that weighted him down. It seemed that Satoko improved the ropes that not even a sword can cut. _Or is it the way she ties the ropes? _

"Well, does Maebara Keiichi, Ryuuguu Rena, Hesoy Moto, and Houjou Satoko ring a bell?" The man's pupils shrank.

"Y-You still lived?! I thought we killed you off already."

"Now answer my question." I narrowed my eyes to his.

"Hmph, why should I tell you guys about us?" The man looked at the northwest direction.

"Because we've already answered yours." Rena joined in the conversation. Her serious tone forced a cold wave across my spine.

"So what y'all going to do if I don't say anything?" He tried to hide his smile, which he failed. "It's pointless if you kill me when you don't have any information. I wouldn't mind you guys torturing me either, since I've already faced a much more bloody past than this crap." Satoko turned to me and smiled.

"The penalty game." She cracked her knuckles. "I thought I didn't have to go this far, but I guess it's expected." _Oh crap, I don't even want to think about this dude's punishment. _"Would you guys please take him to the second floor; I wouldn't want my victim to shout your ears out." At the last phrase, I felt another cold wave that passed my back. Rena and I slowly took him upstairs while he held on an expression of 'uh huh, like you're going to scare me to death'. Once we arrived on the nearest room upstairs, Satoko told us to go downstairs. We did as she said.

After a couple of minutes, a loud scream was heard. _Bull's-eye. As expected from the trap master! _Rena giggled while I grinned. Satoko came downstairs as if nothing ever happened. Then she fake coughed to get our attention.

"Well, it seems that these gray uniformed men are Yamainu, or special troopers assigned as their master's personal 'squad'. Their task was to eliminate each and every single person in Okinomiya and Hinamizawa. The reason of the master's doing is unknown." Satoko said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Then where is their base?" Rena questioned.

"The main base is at Tokyo, but in here, they would usually go into their own vehicles as a sub-base. These vehicles are usually huge and have lots of technology stuffs on the roof. Unfortunately, these big vans' whereabouts are varied since the drivers are skilled at hiding."

"I don't believe that'll stop you from locating these vans." I rubbed my chin and looked at her.

"Indeed not, if I were to be one of those vehicles, I would hide in a place that is probably not in the village. More like in forests where it'll mostly cover up the vehicle."

"Then who's this 'master' you've been talking about?" Moto questioned.

"I was about to get into that part. Anyways, the master was actually Takano Miyo." _I knew it! I knew why that blond hair was so familiar! _Then a thought popped in my mind.

"Didn't Takano's corpse was found in the mountains after the Watangashi?" I asked.

"She faked her own death with a corpse identical to hers." Then I held onto a confused expression.

"How does she do that?" My eyes held curiosity, as Satoko looked the northeast direction.

"Don't ask such unnecessary questions Keiichi! They have high technology anyways!"

"Aw, I missed that 'Ni ni'…" Satoko blushed.

"H-Hau…" _Oh crap, it's going to be take-home mode. I got to do something… _I quickly raised her chin and kissed her to have her attention adjusted to me instead of Satoko.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we should start planning our real move before the enemy finds us." Moto turned to us. I broke the kiss. Then we all nodded to Moto's message, and circled up. Then I heard a stomach growl on my left, in which Satoko blushed like a mad tomato.

"Should we talk over this with food?" I questioned.

"I can get some ingredients from the kitchen. It won't take too long." Rena gave me a peck on the cheek before leaving.

After 10 minutes of stomach growls, Rena finally came out with 4 bentos and chopsticks. I helped her the moment I saw her with the bentos, and carried 3 of them while she has her own. Then I passed out the bentos, and Rena passed out the chopsticks. I opened the lid, and it revealed fish, eggs, rice, and sushi. Drool edged out of my mouth, and I couldn't help but chomp through Rena's delicious cooking. Everyone else did almost the same, except in their own way.

Once we were done, we thanked the cooker, while Rena herself blushed in embarrassment. We all cleaned it at the sink even though Rena insisted not. Then we headed back to the living room. Moto was the first to speak.

"Ahem, what should we do about this dude?" He pointed upwards, to where the man was.

"I left him in the closet. But just leave him there; not like he'll be able to get out of here with my handy traps." Satoko did her 'Ohoho's.

"We should probably sleep in here if we want to be safe. It's already getting dark." Moto took a glance out the smallest window.

"There's a pretty large futon upstairs, and 2 couches. And don't you dare do _anything_ to Rena! I seen you seducing her while she was sleeping." Satoko turned to me.

"So you want Rena and me to sleep in the large futon? I wonder how we're going to not do _anything _in our sleep." Satoko blushed like a cherry at my last sentence. Rena giggled while I held her close to me.

"Then sleep with me as your penalty! I will look after you, and if you do something pervy, I will personally ban you from sleeping with Rena." I got surprised at Satoko's message. Then I narrowed my eyes at hers.

"Since when did you start making random penalties?" My eyes held suspicion.

"Since when you lost the last game to me." Satoko stuck out her tongue. "Not like I want to do anything with a pervert like you."

"Then if I'm a pervert, why are you willing to sleep with me?"

"To see the level of perversity you're at. If you're doing something that goes beyond the levels, you know what happens."

"U-Um…" I then noticed that Rena felt like an outcast.

"I'm sorry for leaving you out like that." She blushed even more when I kissed her on the lips. "I'll also give you my coat if you want to use it as a blanket." I took my jacket off and handed it to her. Then I turned to Satoko. "Are we going to sleep upstairs or bring the futon down here?"

"Of course it'll be upstairs. Besides; I got to keep an eye on that Yamainu dude."

"I thought you said he's taken care of with your traps."

"Hmph, never underestimate the Yamainu, especially when you don't have much info on them." We headed upstairs to the empty bedroom after another kiss from Rena. The futon was already laid out, as the former owner of the bed died before he or she got a chance to have it folded back. The lights went out and both of us climbed into the blankets of the futon, as I had my body faced to the wall. Then I felt a pair of arms that clung onto the sides of my shirt.

"Ni ni.."

Author's Note: Okay, that felt way too much like SatokoxKeiichi than the usual. Sorry that this felt rushed, but I was in a time crisis when I was planning this out and typing it out. Anyways, this was basically the group's first move, as stated in the title. What I'm also intending is for the group to have good o' info to use, so that they'll perform their 'real move' on the Yamainu and Takano Miyo. What I also intended, as a side part, was for Satoko to strengthen her sibling relationship with Keiichi, but as you can see, it feels too much like I'm pairing them up. So I'll put up more KeiichixRena in the next chapter to make this up, so until then! R&R! As for swimming, I'm working on building my stamina and trending.


	11. Reinforcements

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've done something about Tsumiborohoshi-hen.

Bright light had their base on my face, and I quickly adjusted my body to the shade area of the futon. In the process, I felt another human that snuggled itself in my arms. I noticed it was Satoko, and she looked as if she's safe and sound. _Stupid Satoshi …wait didn't I already said that yesterday? _I shrugged the thought out, and scanned for the clock. It was 8:30 AM. The weight on my arms shifted.

"Keiichi…" Satoko's voice crept out. I turned to her, but she looked the opposite and had the weight out of my arm. "If Rena and you were to get married, I wondered if I could be adopted by you guys." I was surprised by her request, then smiled.

"Of course. Just wait about 2 more years for me to be 18." I replied. "Then, instead of 'ni ni', I'll be your 'pa pa'." Another sharp pain engraved itself on my head. The shot was obviously by Satoko. My hand reached out to the part where the damage was. "H-Hey, what was that for?" The trap master merely stuck her tongue out and got out of the room.

After minutes of being spaced out, the door was opened again. This time, it was Rena going through it. She smiled one of those smiles that could melt your heart to wax. We were stuck in our gaze, until she went closer to my position.

"Satoko said that you passed. It looks like she was too shy to say that directly to you." She hugged me. "Congratulations." I felt a wave of heat that embraced my cheeks.

"It's not like I won the lottery or something like that." I reasoned. Then I felt a skin impact on my chin.

"But you did." Rena gave me a peck. "We should probably head back to eat something. Besides, you never know when those men strike." She took a hold of my hand, and led me downstairs to the kitchen. Along the way, I saw Moto continued his guard of the front door with his new weapon. "You're the only one who didn't ate." She pointed at the meal that was placed on the counter.

"I guess I'm a heavy sleeper." I rubbed my head. Rena then gave me the chopsticks and I began my relief for my stomach. The food tasted amazingly awesome. _As expected from the greatest cook! _In fact, it was so good that I shed tears of happiness. Rena noticed the situation and started to worry.

"W-Why are you crying, Keiichi-kun?" My attention was quickly adjusted to her expression. I then wiped off the blur on my eyes.

"A-Ah, it's just that the food was too delicious that I was about to bust out some good tears." With that, Rena's worry turned into happiness.

"I see. Well, I went over to our house to get some of our food supply with Moto backing me up."

"Did you get hurt?"

"Nope. Moto didn't either. But then, we saw some villagers forming their own crew. I guess they also wanted to defend themselves against the Yamainu." I finally got Rena's point.

"So what you're saying is that we're going to join their crew?"

"Yup. We've already sent Satoko to give them our message."

"She's going alone?"

"Well, I convinced her to have an escort, but she denied." She took the dish and placed it in the sink. Then she turned the cold knob and began her dishwashing. "In the meantime, why don't you get washed up? There's a bathroom upstairs through the blue door." I nodded, and went to the bathroom just like she instructed.

After my little 'wash up', I went back downstairs. Right in the living room, there were a couple of villagers with pitchforks and other weapons.

"Keiichi, you're just in time." Satoko had her hands on her hips. "Because we're about to unleash our plan."

"And that is?" I questioned.

"We're going into groups of 4. There's going to be 3 groups called Frontlines, Backup, and Protectors." She had her matter-of-fact voice turned on. "And, as you should've already guessed, you're in the frontlines with Rena, Yuichi, and Jyouta." She pointed at my squad mates. Rena waved at me happily when our gaze met. I responded with a smile and a wave. Alongside her, there was 1 dude that had yellow spiky-yet-bushy hair and worn only a pair of pants and socks. Scars were shown on his chest, and it looked like most of those scars were from knives and bullets. There were also some knives that were placed in his belt holsters. The other person was a female with a short hair version of Rena's hairstyle, but her hair color was black. She had worn a regular gray T-shirt and some shorts, but some parts of her clothing had holes. There was a large gun placed on her back holster, and another gun in her belt holster. Both looked like they're the same age as me. "Ahem," My attention returned back to Satoko. "You're appointed as the captain of your squad. Better make sure you teach those 2 villagers your hand signals." She held up her index finger. "Your job is to get your squad in the Irie's clinic and knock off all resistance as best as you can. The backup squad, lead by Moto, will be following cautiously behind you and helping you out. As for my squad of 'Protectors', we'll be knocking off any resistance that surrounds the building. That makes sure that you won't be dealing with more Yamainu than what you're suppost to deal with." I raised an eyebrow.

"You really enjoy lecturing, don't you?" I joked. Before I knew it, I was on the floor with a bruise on my scalp …again. I then felt a hand on my back.

"Keiichi-kun, are you okay?" It was Rena's heartwarming voice.

"Stop wasting time, 'Keiichi-kun'." Satoko teased. I quickly got up and headed to the bedroom upstairs, where my bat and baseballs were. It didn't take that long before I finally got back downstairs with my weapons equipped. Everyone used their time to plan their attacks and defenses, and probably a couple of combinations moves. _I should probably do what they're doing, before Satoko kills me with her punch. _I then walked over to my own squad, and started our first official meeting.

"Alright, my name's Maebara Keiichi, and I'm your leader. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves?" I started up the conversation.

"My name's Rei Yuichi, and I usually like collecting a bunch of knives for survival purposes. That's how I ended up being alive to this day." The man spoke in his energetic voice. _Okay, so I'm assuming this dude likes close combat like me. He may be useful for assassination purposes with his knives._

"My name's Narame Jyouta, and I usually handle battles with guns. Too bad I only got a MG-42 and a pistol on me." Unlike Yuichi, her voice was much more like a low bored-out voice. _With that MG-42, it should be useful for knocking out hordes of enemies. Man, I wonder how she even carries that thing with ease._

"As for me, I'm Ryuuguu Rena, and I usually have my cleaver to protect me. And Keiichi-kun has his bat to watch over me." I blushed at her last sentence, and I assumed that the villagers knew about our relationship since both of the members looked like they expected this.

"Then, are there any roles that you guys want to play? Like the ranger? Scout?" I asked.

"I would gladly take the role of being a scouter. Though I don't look like it, my hearing's probably the best out of Okinomiya. I could even hear the mice walking in the attic."

"Alright, any complaints about Yuichi being the scouter?" I questioned my fellow teammates. No one seemed to care. "Then, I'll be a tad distance away from you." I pointed at Yuichi. "You got to tell me when we could strike, and the way we should strike through hand signals. We could get to that later."

"I'll be the distracter." Jyouta finally spoke. "With the MG-42, all the Yamainu will be on full alert on my destination. You guys can easily get through other parts of the clinic this way." We all nodded our heads in agreement. "However, I would request to have Rena be watching my back; the direction opposite of mines is usually my weak point when it comes to killing these Yamainu."

"There's still the backup squad." I reasoned.

"Hau, don't worry Keiichi-kun. I'll make sure Jyouta doesn't get a back scratch on her." It seemed that Rena accepted rather quickly.

Time passed really quickly, and before I knew it, we started to eat our last meal before the plan is unleashed.

"Man, was this your cooking?" Yuichi asked. He munched hungrily on the bento's contents.

"Yup, I decided to make this the greatest meal possible before we decide to head out." Rena answered.

"I bet that Keiichi would be the luckiest guy in Hinamizawa with a woman like you." Yuichi complimented.

"If he survives, that is." Jyouta joined in the conversation.

"Stop being so pessimistic." Yuichi rolled his eyes.

"And stop being so optimistic. It'll be a miracle if all of us could survive this mess." Jyouta crossed her arms and looked the opposite direction.

Aside from the arguing, Rena and I finished our meal quicker than the rest of the gang, and we both made our way out of the horde like a burglar that ran away with its loot. We ended up being upstairs in the bedroom. There was a window that showed the scorching sun's light through the room. Both of us sat on the futon that I woke up in.

"Keiichi-kun." Rena quietly spoke.

"Yes?" I questioned her.

"Do you think we'll be able to solve this problem through a phone call with the headquarters to send their Banken units here?"

"I believe so. The Yamainu already cut off all of our phone lines. Isn't that what Satoko planned?"

"And…" She was quiet for a while.

"And…?" I inwardly begged her to finish her sentence.

"Though I never said this because of our physical ways of love…" She paused for a moment. Then she looked directly at my eyes with courage I never thought she ever had. _At least, not in my experience._ "I love you." With those 3 words, my heart melted into a cream pudding of lava. _I do admit it though, we both never really thought about saying these words before our actions. _She went closer to me, and coiled her arms around my neck. There was a hint of twinkle in her eyes. I replied back with as much courage as she used.

"I love you too." We closed up the space between our lips.

Author's Notes: Plans have changed, and I decided to have a few reinforcements to help out the main characters. I researched a bit and found out that the first cell phone was invented in 1973 in Japan, but it cost a whopping $3,500. Using its unpopularity to my advantage, I decided to have the characters in Hinamizawa/Okinomiya to not own cell phones (mainly due to cost and 'dead zones'). Anyways, I just noticed that both Rena and Keiichi never expressed their love verbally (yes, I'm the type that likes actions than words), and boom, I threw in the missing puzzle at the end xD R&R (even though the chapter was rushed)! Just 1 more freaking week of swimming lessons and I'm out of that fun-fun torture chamber!


	12. Battle

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've had in some crossover from Umineko. Rena shall take Kanon home!

My heart pounded against my chest, mainly due to both excitation and nervousness. I pondered on how my crew should get in the building, as it is heavily guarded by the Yamainu. As for us, we're well hidden behind the bushes that are a distance away from the door of the clinic. I looked back to my crew, and they all seem to have expected a plan from me.

_"We could either do this quietly, or loudly. Which one do you guys prefer?" _I whispered to them. It took a while before someone responded.

_"We should do it quietly first. Then if we're busted, we'll be doing it loudly." _Jyouta whispered back with a hint of her matter-of-fact voice. With that, a plan sprung in my mind like a teacher that has just received his or her paperwork.

_"Yuichi, can you assassinate them?" _I asked him. He rubbed his chin for a while before he answered.

_"Maybe one, but that'll attract attention immediately once one of them is dead."_

_"That's the point. All you have to do is drag them to Jyouta's range, where she'll be able to knock them all out." _My confidence level meter increased with the choice of words I used. Yuichi finally understood my plan and went a safe distance from us to another bush. Jyouta got her MG-42 out and laid it on the ground, its direction locked on Yuichi. Both Rena and I were right behind Jyouta as bodyguards. We looked at Yuichi, as to wait for his signal.

After what it seemed to be a long 2 minutes, Yuichi looked like he found an opening and threw one of his knives at a Yamainu. It was a headshot, and the man fell down with a loud thud. The other Yamainu quickly, like a reflex, looked at their fallen teammate. Yuichi made his next assigned move and ran to us. It was enough to make sounds that lure the Yamainu in. Once they edged into her weapon's range, she quickly fired at each Yamainu there is, and each member was hit with a headshot. _Man, she should've used a rifle instead of a machine gun. _Sweat slid down the side of my head, as a couple of Yamainu approached Jyouta from behind. Once their footsteps were close enough, Rena and I quickly sprung up from our hiding place and bashed them with our weapons. It was then that I noticed that another Yamainu member had made his way to the door of the clinic. Yuichi caught the same sight and immediately took action: he threw his knife with all his force right at that Yamainu. Miraculously, the knife was engraved into the Yamainu's neck, and he was knocked out cold. Before we knew it, we heard more gunshots that were aimed at the Yamainu.

"We'll take care of things here. You guys go and get your butts in there." It was one of the villagers that were a part of the backup squad. I nodded, and signaled my own squad to the clinic. It felt like World War 2 going through the pathway to the door due to the intense gunfire that emitted from both sides. Along the way, I picked up a dead Yamainu's AK-47 as a side weapon. Everyone else aside from Jyouta had done the same.

Once we reached through the door, there were many Yamainu that expected our presence. We quickly fired our studs away at them. _All that 'training' with my model gun has now paid off. _I smiled at my thought while I made some headshots. It wasn't long for those Yamainu to be knocked out, as all of us quickly moved on and got some ammo along the way. We then went into our formulated positions: Yuichi as the scout, me being a tad distance behind him, Jyouta behind me, and Rena behind Jyouta.

After we gone through a couple of hallways and, there was a hallway where it led downstairs. I was surprised that there was such a thing in the clinic. _A secret hideout, maybe? _Another band of Yamainu spotted us and we quickly took our course of action.

Before I knew it, a surge of lightning went through my left arm, as I was hit. The AK-47 fell from my grasp, and I clenched the arm that held the bullet shot. I dodged the rest of the bullets that flew in my direction.

"Kei-" Rena went silent when she knew she shouldn't shout, as it'll attract more attention. Instead, she went right in front of me and shielded me with her cleaver. The last Yamainu was now a lying corpse as Rena quickly got out a bandage roll, probably got it from Moto, and made a makeshift band-aid for my bullet shot. Being aware of the 'hideout', we then examined our surroundings. There were glass that separated us from the surgical beds and hospital gadgets. We continued through the hallway and I noticed a patient that was on his bed. There was a big toy bear that was by his side.

"H-Hey, isn't that?" I pointed at the patient.

"S-Satoshi?" Rena was also in shock of his presence. "Why is he here?" Before she took another glance at him, the glass was shattered by some gunfire. The bullets were from Jyouta's pistol. It seemed that she had put a suppressor on it, so it silenced her shots.

"If he's really close to you, then hurry and get him." Jyouta's bored-out voice came on. "Otherwise, I will kill him." Both Rena and I took immediate action and went to Satoshi's side. I stole a glance at his wrist and it read 'HS-5'. Out of nowhere, I saw Rena with a syringe in her hand.

"Since when did you get that?" I abruptly asked.

"Since the last time we came into the hospital. Moto secretly gave me one of these in case." She then plunged the syringe into Satoshi's neck, as the liquid was being injected. The syringe was pulled out, and she threw it at a random direction. In response to the liquid, Satoshi's eyes quickly opened up.

"Where am I?" He sat up, and then noticed my presence. "Who are you?" His eyes of confusion were locked on mines.

"You're in the Irie's clinic, and this is Keiichi-kun." Rena answered. "He transferred to our school right after…" She was speechless for a moment. "…You've been hit with the Hinamizawa syndrome." Her eyes looked down. I pulled her close with my uninjured arm to reassure her.

"Ahem. Less talking and more fighting." Jyouta's voice came on again.

"Hmph, you just want to test out your recently built MG-42." Yuichi pointed out.

"Shut up."

After we explained about our situation and have Satoshi explained his own, he understood the plan and decided to join my crew. He wielded an AK-47 on one hand, which he got from another dead Yamainu, and his bear on the other, which is his present to Satoko. We changed our formation, and had him in front of me.

It was not until a while later that we reached upstairs to another hallway. More bullet shots came to our location, and there sat an armored Yamainu with a Winchester shotgun in our way. His armor looked like a baseball catcher's gear, but with metal instead of leather.

"You have no chance of escape. Our reinforcements already blocked the entrance, and the perimeter is well guarded. Surrender yourselves and we'll reconsider-" Before the armored Yamainu got a chance to speak anymore, a bullet came right between his eyes which impaled him. His body then went to the side and against the floor, where blood has started its trail down his forehead.

"Idiot." Jyouta released her clip and added another to her pistol. Yuichi then replaced his AK-47 with the Winchester and paused for a moment.

"What's the problem?" I asked him.

"The backup crew got through the doors. I could hear it." He answered. Then he shot his eyes at the lifeless armored Yamainu. "That liar." There was gunfire behind us. Thankfully, Rena's cleaver shielded us from the bullets that could've touched our flesh. When I looked at the bullets' owner, he was backed up by a horde of other Yamainu.

"Rena and I will be staying here. The control room shouldn't be that far from here. Now go!" Jyouta's message was a bit more of an order, but nonetheless, I followed Satoshi and Yuichi into another hallway that led to our objective.

Sweat burned onto my skin like acid as I struggled my legs in motion. I never knew that my energy would burn up this easily.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short delay. I had to wait for my sister to come back so I can use her flash drive. Anyways, I pulled off quite a pack of action in here o.0 Usually I sucked at these types of scenes but meh, I want to see your opinion about it. In the next 2 weeks it's going to be my b-day (Yay!) and I'm going to start school on August 24 T.T so my updates will probably be slower than usual at that time since I heard that this year's going to be full of tests, tests, and more tests. But I'm glad that I got through swimming, even though I got a swollen eye from someone kicking me during swimming. Okay, let's not get too off-topic. Please don't hesitate to give me ideas, as I probably will need them once I'm done with Takano-being-the-problem. R&R!


	13. Trap

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've made more arcs about Rena. Maybe like a couple thousands…hehe..

I quickly knocked out a guard that blocked the door to the control room with the bat.

He fell on the ground like a beaten-up rag doll. _Serves them right. _

With Yuichi as cover, I pushed my ear against the door to make out sounds.

Apparently, all I heard were some rustling there and here. _Either they're getting prepared, or panicked. _

"Keiichi, we got incoming Yamainu. You knock that door down or else we're in for a horde." Yuichi's words cleared off all my other thoughts, with only 1 clear goal in my mind: Get in the freaking room and call for the Banken.

Strength was pumped into my right leg, as I thrust it on the door. I was surprised that it fell very easily.

Once the door was out of the way, every single Yamainu that was in the room pointed their guns at us. There were so many in the room that there's no time for numbers.

"Drop. The. Weapon." I turned to the woman who spoke those words.

"Takano Miyo, you bastard." Yuichi said his words with hatred as he dropped his Winchester as I did with my bat. "Why kill the villagers? They've done nothing wrong to anger Oyashiro-sama." After his last phrase, she burst out in laughter.

"My, my. Aren't you a feisty one?" She paused a moment to recuperate from her laughter mode. "Oyashiro-sama is just what I invented to scare off all of you weaklings." She smirked.

"Then, all of those deaths-"

"Yes, yes! I did it! I did all of those deaths!" She interrupted Yuichi, and is now bathed in laughter once again.

"What for?" I asked.

It took a while for Takano to stop her hyena laughter before she responded.

"My grandfather."

Her face was now serious. "He was the one who brought me out of the orphanage and devoted his life to the Hinamizawa Syndrome. But, no one ever listens to his 'stories'."

"So, you're just his lapdog." I smiled at my own joke.

"You!" She pointed at me with an angry expression. "Kill him!"

My heart was in a fit again once I realized that my life was about to be over. Everything turned black and white, and time seemed to have slowed down before the Yamainu member raised his gun at my head.

I closed my eyes, and hoped for dear merciful whatever to spare me of the horrible fate that was yet to come.

Gunfire erupted throughout the room, and for a second I thought I was already dead.

My eyes opened to reveal…

…a cleaver.

"Wake up, Keiichi-kun." I turned to the owner of the voice.

"R-Rena!" Just as I was about to output my words, I noticed a red stain on her leg. More redness leaked out, and I found out it was blood. "Are you okay? What happened to your leg?" I quickly questioned.

"J-Just a little scratch. Don't worry; it's nothing."

She threw me my bat, as to say 'Fight now. Talk later.' or 'Less talking, more fighting.' Whether it was this or that, the only thing I should be focused on is the present.

I swung my bat at another Yamainu that was inches near Rena.

"Watch your back." I smiled at her.

"I'll leave that to you." She smiled back. We continued our assault on the Yamainu.

Through each swing, I felt my blood boil like lava.

Though my arms are tired, nothing kept it from moving.

Swing. Another guard was beaten to the ground.

Swing. It was a miss to the guard that was near my previous victim.

Swing. Force resisted my own. I noticed that the guard blocked it with his hand. I snatched the bat away from his grip. Then I raised it above my head.

Swing.

It was then when Jyouta came that we've gained the upper hand. She was bruised from head to toe, and had on bandages throughout her body.

Nonetheless, she came and knocked out every single Yamainu in the room.

As for Takano, she injected her with some kind of substance that knocked her unconscious. _Jeez, I wonder how many preparations Moto gave us. _I shrugged that thought off when Rena spoke.

"Keiichi-kun, our transmission has been jammed when using their communications. There's some kind of disturbance that must've been doing this."

My heart sank low at those words.

_That means-!_

"We're going to have to go outside Okinomiya to another place where their communications can work." Yuichi joined the conversation.

"B-But, what kind of disturbance is it, Rena?" I asked her. My hands were glued on the counter, as sweat formed in more numbers.

"Someone must've implanted a device that blocks the wavelength of this current communicator. Judging from how strong the disturbance is, it's probably a mile away from our location." Rena answered.

I felt more sweat that made its way down the sides of my face. By the time I felt another sweat drop down to my chin, a voice raised our attention.

"Hey, did you contact the Banken?" I turned around and found out it was Moto and his crew. They were all bruised up, especially in the face.

After the explanation from yours truly, we made a new plan.

Jyouta and the rest of the 'Protectors' are responsible for getting rid of the Yamainu. They will also have to defend the building and interrogate with Takano until the 'Frontlines' comes back.

Yuichi, Rena, Satoshi, and I, as part of the 'Frontlines' will track down the device that Rena talked about. Moto and his own crew will be going to another village or area where they could contact the Banken. We decided to keep Satoshi's presence a secret for the duration of the mission, as it's my wicked idea to get back at Satoko.

_Hehe, Satoko, you better start praising me when I tell you about our great life-and-death situation. Having your brother held captive and having us barely rescuing- _The thought popped out of my mind when Rena examined my injured arm. She traced some parts with her hand while being as careful as possible.

When she touched a certain area of my arm, a big gigantic glob of pain shot me inside out. I clenched my left arm and winced.

"Sorry, Keiichi-kun. I should've been more careful when doing these type of things." Rena now has on her innocent voice.

I felt some tears on the sides of my face from pain.

She then brushed them away with hand, but with more gentleness than her tracing earlier. Of course, no one other than Rena could do something as gentle as this.

"Alright, are you guys done with each other? We don't have all day for this." Yuichi's voice boomed in.

"Hold on, I just need to check one more thing." Rena replied. She raised her arms to my left arm, as to say 'Can I hold it once more?'

My muscles relaxed as she placed my arm into her own. There are times where she rotated it and looked at some areas that she hasn't seen.

"You're badly injured, but do you think you can last the mile with us?" She asked me with worry in her eyes.

I reached out and placed my right hand on hers and squeezed it.

"I'll go." Then an idea popped up in my mind as a mischievous expression engraved itself onto my face. "I'll go and die then stalk you in your showers."

"W-What!" She gasped. "T-That's mean…"

After a couple of seconds, her face was now a cherry. "…And perverted." She finished her sentence.

"Well?" Yuichi interrupted. "If we don't make it back in an hour or so, they're going to assume that we're dead."

"Ah! Coming!" Rena quickly replied.

She grabbed my hand and dragged me to where Yuichi and Satoshi were.

"I think-" I couldn't finished my sentence when I felt Rena's finger on top of my lips. She pointed with her other hand beyond the bushes, which are where we were well hidden in, and to the Yamainu members that are on patrol. I noticed the situation and gave a nod to her.

I turned to Yuichi and saw that he was ready. Then I nodded to him.

Starting all over again… …great…

Author's Notes: I decided to add in spacing to not make things too rushed. Anyways, school started and my updates are probably going to get slower by a week or so (yes, school is evil!). But yep, this is basically the transition from the first battle to another. By the way, yesterday was my b-day! ;D w00t! Now give me some reviews as belated b-day presents ;] R&R!


	14. Ending of Reign

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've make the club play …an interesting game…

Sweat slid off of my face and down to my chin like a man making its path through the desert as Yuichi made his aim with his last remaining knife. His eyes were full of concentration, and were fully locked onto his target. It was like one of those 'calm before storm' scenes, but this scenario is more about assassins than calm. We aren't really 'calm', by the way.

Before I could blink, his arm swung so fast it was like lightning striking its target.

I looked in the direction of his knife's destination and as it was already stuck on a lying dead Yamainu member. It's like the o' predator-and-prey scene, where the cheetah used its speed to catch up to its prey to feast on.

_Nice shot. _I inwardly commented. Then again, it was a really good shot since it was considered a headshot that's done without a sniper rifle. No one would be able to do this sort of thing as easily as him.

At least that's what I think.

Gunfire erupted in our direction as Rena deflected them with her cleaver. Each and every single bullet impacted the blade with high pitch noises that flung the bullets back onto the ground.

With the plan implanted in my mind, I now noticed it was mines and Satoshi's turn to make our move. Since we're obscured by bushes much farther than the rest of the crew, our own assassin-like movement toward our destination was much more unnoticed than the distracters in the back.

My head turned and I locked my eyes onto Yuichi and Rena in a distract-and-defend situation: His Winchester fired at groups of Yamainu while Rena used her cleaver to protect Yuichi from the upcoming bullets of the Yamainu.

_Will they be okay?_ I wondered for a moment, questioning if they could handle such a situation.

When I looked back, I saw some incoming figures approaching us. I narrowed my eyes to get a clear view of the figures and found out they were part of the Yamainu.

_Crap! We're busted! _My teeth clenched together, as to scowl myself for giving my location to the Yamainu so quickly.

Like a hit-and-run situation, Satoshi fired his AK-47 at one Yamainu and I used my bat to knock out another as we ran like a cheetah. Though with our speed, I still heard some bullets in our direction, but it was by luck that they never hit us with them.

It was a long and tiring run through the forest, especially when there were Yamainu 20 feet away from us that fired their bullets in our direction. Both my temperature and heartbeat went to the very tops that I could barely catch my own breath. It's like the reaper sucking the life out of you up to the point that death could be here any minute. _And heck no I don't want that._

My eyes widened when the disturbance device was in our view. Just like any other device, it was metal and it was a machinery device. Unfortunately, it was until a voice called that we realized that it was a total trap.

"This is as far and you can go." I felt pure cold metal on my back that it might be like Antarctica in the palm of your hands. Then there was a trigger sound from the same piece of metal, but it was then that I found out it was a gun that was about to unleash its bullet upon the flesh.

When I looked toward Satoshi, he was already in the same situation, except with a different emotion. His face was wrinkled into an angry expression, mixed with regret and depression.

I'm not even sure if my own face was like that, since there's no mirror in this place. _Heck, why would someone even bring one when we're fighting?_

"Takano Miyo, I thought you were already at the building we fought in a while ago." Satoshi spoke with as less anger as possible, keeping his rage meter on low even when it's considered medium.

In return, Takano burst out in laughter as if someone has fallen into a very obvious joke. _Then again, was this a joke?_

"Ara ara, do you think that I'll be staying there when I'm the boss of the Yamainu?" She had on an evil-smirking expression, showing how much one's evilness could be.

"Then, it was a fake?" I questioned while clenching my teeth together, clashing them into a fight of strength against one another.

"Of course!" The laughter she previously let out was on the verge of being released again, as she giggled uncontrollably like a hyena trying not to make its 'laugh'.

"Then, why do you have to do this? Why kill the innocent?" I counterattacked verbally while a certain droplet of moisture slid its way down my sideburn; I was still scared of the unknown future.

The laughing stopped, but only temporary like an alarm clock put on snooze.

"Hmph, of course it's for my grandfather. He gave me a beautiful new journey of life, and I'll do anything to make up for him, even if it involves the research of the Hinamizawa Syndrome."

In response to that passage, my eyes lowered down to the ground as I narrowed them in anger.

"Then why do you try so hard for his dreams when you have your own?" I asked with curiosity fueling up the question that I just said.

"I devoted my life to him. His dreams are my dreams-"

"You're lying." Satoshi interrupted her, with the firing rage in his eyes that were pointing swords at her.

"No I'm not." She denied immediately like the speed of lightning. "What are you doing? Fire him!"

My eyes widened immediately when the Yamainu pointed his gun at him.

_No! I can not allow that!_

As if by reflex, I felt a bound of energy that motivate me to defend him, like a broken old man using a time machine to change his appearance to 20 years old.

Right before the Yamainu pulled the trigger to output the bullet, I hastily dragged my body and pushed Satoshi away, in which the shot went towards me. Luckily, the bullet only made a slight cut on the side of my shirt.

Unluckily, it was a cut that bled.

As a result, a jolt of pain spread itself throughout my body, as if a virus went inside its host and invaded the system with its multiplying clones of pain and sorrow. However, with my hand clutching on that area, it wasn't as bad as it would usually be in a normal fun-fun torture chamber.

"Hey!" Takano's voice came out in a roaring thunder. "What are you guys doing?! Shoot him again!" Those words brought another heart-beating moment, like one of those times where you get lightheaded and it just seemed like time has stopped into a gray colored dimension.

Like a turntable, the response to her was completely a plot twisting event.

"We can't." The Yamainu replied with a serious expression. Following his words, the vision of the gray world suddenly transitioned into a colored reality, making it as if I gone back to my 'old' dimension. At the same time, a wave of relief washed away the stress from my body like an acne cream blemishing acne, except permanently.

"Why can't we?!" She cried out in a sadden tone, like one of those times where you lost something precious to you. "He's standing right in front of you!" She then pointed her finger at me with anger plastered on her features.

As if I was counterattacking, I shot her a knife-pointing stare against her.

"Because we are here." An unknown voice came out, making us adjust our attention to that person. He had on many army-like clothing along with a rifle gun that could probably tear your meat off once used.

"I assumed that Takano is the one that is held with all the responsibility?" Another soldier like the previous one approached us from 'nowhere', standing right next to Takano, making him seem like he was saying 'you just got caught'.

In response, the other Yamainu nodded while they dropped their weapons onto the ground, making a light thud on the impact. Then as if on cue, they raised their arms up like one of those police scenes where you get arrested.

One of the soldiers turned to me and held a 'don't worry' smile.

"We're the Banken sent by the government to arrest Takano for misusing the Yamainu and killing the citizens of Hinamizawa. The rest of the Banken should be at your friends' destination, so they should be fine." His message brought another stress wall down as I sighed in relief.

"Thank you." I replied with a slight bow, as if the Banken soldier was someone to respect.

Author's Notes: Wow, it's been a long killing (approximately) 2 months since I last updated x.x I've been having a major idea outage for the future chapters of this story, so please make as many suggestions as possible since it'll probably end at the next chapter if you're fine with that. Another excuse, though please don't be disappointed, is that I've been trying to develop a new 'style' through the work of my third fiction, called "Chosen Fate" (Negima fiction with pairing NegixSetsuna from Negi's P0V). So that explained the dramatic change of my works in this fiction, in which I actually pulled out every single capability I had even though there are grammar errors (yes, I still have that problem even though I included the "new style"). Other than my endless excuses consisting of homework, projects (I actually made soundtracks for the haunted house in my school, yippee!), self-projects (like the 3 paper guns), and other experiences that'll bore you out to death, let's go to the topic of this story (yes, you're dying for this part!). Alright, so far we are going into the ending of the Takano operation conflict! Woopeedoo! -high fives a reviewer- And just like I was previously saying, I'm still in a major idea outage if you're looking forward to the future struggles of Rena and Keiichi, so gives me suggestions if you're looking forward to those types of things ;DD And –oh yeah, I also put up a poll in my profile for the updating of my fictions, so if you want the updates to be faster, go vote for ya favorite one! ;] R&R please!


	15. Epilogue: Five Years Later

Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi. If I did, I would've made 94032 projects of it.

Replies (to anonymous users):

BakaBlue – _"They use the money where exactly? With shopkeepers dead and all... I find it amusing that you use God as a referance in a story like this though..." _It's been a long while since I had a reviewer, but I thank thee for reminding me of how my past writings are like ^^;; Hmmm, -rereads a couple chapters- oh, the concept was that, since Rena and Keiichi are the fellow survivors of the Hinamizawa disaster, they are supported by the government. Good idea? Bad idea? Idiotic idea? xD It's one of those OC ideas, so I don't mind if you say that it's out of the ordinary xP God as reference? Um…, well… ^^;; I don't quite remember how I like getting God involved in this, but w/e xP Just hope that you enjoy my conclusion x]

Redseb – _"Your not really familiar with how an abandoned villiage works are you? Still though it makes it original..." _Nope ^w^ lol And original? o.0;; Do you mean OC original or just unique out of the ff fanfics? Well, anyways, please enjoy the conclusion~

* * *

"Hey, remember to call me pa~pa~." Speaking in a very innocent tone, I smiled at the boy in front of me, playing with his hands as he enjoyed the playful habit I adapted to when interacting with young ones, and guiding him down to walk as proficiently as possible. He had orange hair with the same bangs that I've had back in my young days, which felt nostalgic now that this thought came into my mind, resulting in the formation of a small smile. His name, as Rena wanted it, was 'Kana' –meaning 'youthful' in Sanskrit–, matching his cheery expression, as he flopped over on cue. In response, I helped him up, my hands taking a hold of his, as he –though this was expected– stood up for a few seconds then fell down again. Thankfully, the carpet made sure that his landing a safe and soft one, and thus I sighed in relief.

_Oh boy…, after so many years, he's still having quite a hard time with this –though it's only been three years since he and his sister were–_

"Papa!" A shout erupted from behind, as I adjusted my view to it, knowing that it was Kana's twin sister, 'Rieko' –meaning 'child blessed with logic'–, which corresponds with her sudden response. She had brown hair with dominant and side bangs separated by her hairline, which is similar to Rena's bangs. Her expression was embellished by her hopeful enthusiasm, as she was the smarter of the siblings, making her more known for that sophisticated outlook.

"Good job, Rieko." I gave her a thumbs-up with a cheerful expression, making her own face glitter with confidence, which reminded me of my past days as a 'smart' student (I assume my smart genes got into her brain) in Hinamizawa.

In fact, we're in that same town right now.

"I'm back." I turned to the left, looking at the hallway of the front door, as Rena shut the door with little strength before dropping the groceries in her hands. She seemed rather tired –the cause probably due to her work as a chef– especially when I noticed the sweat drops that have been rolling down her side burn lately. She has a medium length hair along with a hairclip to keep her dominant bangs from obscuring her face –more or less like a wife at this point–, as she started stretching to get a feel of relaxation again.

Patting Kana's head, he got off of my lap before I stood up, walking towards Rena like a gentleman expecting someone's presence. Of course, to be a gentle husband means a couple year's worth of dealing with our house, knowing for the fact that it's been deadly dusty since we first came.

_**-FB- (flashback)**_

"_Having a baby and not even prepared? Ohohoho~" Satoko mocked the way my house was like, as spider webs, dust clouds, and other random stuff embellished the insides and outsides of this rugged building. It was more or less unclean, knowing that my mom usually does all the house hygiene everyday, and obviously as the son, I appreciate her for that._

_ "Haaah…, I guess I'll have to take mom's place in cleaning this big house…" I sighed, wondering just how long it'll take in order to finally get this building back into shape without killing it._

_**-FB-End-**_

"How's work?" I asked when I held the handle loops of the bag, giving Rena a hand of carrying these stuffs, and no longer caring about how much the weight are of these things (hey, I'm a strong man).

"They're having a special sale this time, so that kind of overworked me a bit, but I'm fine." She held a smile after her message, which reassured me from my worries, as I too had given her my share of happiness; I smiled back.

"Besides, your work as a teacher must be more tiring for you." She added, only increasing my pity for her, as I couldn't help but feel like it's unnecessary for her to say that.

"Well, I'm a man, aren't I?" Readjusting my bag positioning so that I have a free hand, I then used that hand to pat my arm muscle, wanting to make use of my gender in comparison to the amount of work that I've been grading everyday (no intention of any sexism though).

Rena smiled in the humor of my comedic-like actions, as we walked through the hallway and dropped off the bags on the kitchen table. It was but a mere resemblance of an ordinary kitchen: the stove near the wall, the refrigerator not that far from it, the counters laid out near the refrigerator, a sink, dinner table with chairs, cabinets, and other supplements needed in kitchens. Going to the cabinet, Rena opened it with ease, her expression remaining calm in motion, as she pulled out an apron –a colorful flowery one amongst the other aprons– and worn it on front. I couldn't help but stare at the way she's doing it, my eyes tracking down the ropes of which she had tied them around her waist.

_Heh, I'm getting turned on and–_

"Mama, what are we eating today?" Simply warped out of my mesmerized trance, I then turned to find Reiko, her curiosity marking down the line; she was rather inquisitive at this point.

In response, Rena turned back to her as she acknowledged the words 'Mama', and carried a heartwarming smile to the smart little child. The midst of this moment had involved Rena's preparation of her pot on the stove, curry powder and other supplies now at her side (I didn't notice she was doing that until now, by the way).

"It'll be curry today." She responded back with a seemingly cute tone –a tone that she usually doesn't use as much as she does in her late teens–, as she tilt her head and raised her index finger to contribute to that moe-moe factor.

_Oh boy…, I guess she's fired up for her youth again, heh…_

"Yay! Mama's making curry, Kana!" Reiko bounced up and down in glee before going back into the distance, her voice still keeping her cheerful spirit, as it slowly died down into the living room. I smiled at the scenery before feeling a skin-to-skin touch on my hand, its warmness alerting yet pleasantly aiding my needs. I turned to Rena, her eyes seemingly begging for something that only both of us knew what it was. The stove was already set on a low heat, the oils already in its place, and all it needs is a little bit of time.

_I guess it wouldn't bother if we were to do this now._

I readjusted myself so that our hands are locked together, palms facing palms, as I leaned in closer to her face to the point where our lips had met. I could feel my hormones rattling in its excited formation –though not as strong as my teen age–, and the sweet juices that were transmitted from tongue to tongue, fighting for more and more of where that came from. I pulled her waist in closer, as she did the same with her arms around my neck, our kiss continuing and everlasting for the moment. I could feel the passion emitted from her, the same applying to my transmission, as aggressiveness boils inside of me, wanting to unleash itself. I needed this moment to finally grasp her affection, the longing and tingling feeling that I sought for so long for all these hours I've been teaching, occupying and–

"Eww~ they're kissing!" Voices of our children came out in the corner, though it felt like a simple background audition, as I steadied the kiss in a way that'll send the message of 'We have to stop this or else this'll inspire the twins' to Rena.

"Hmph, it's times like these where you can set up a trap." Fully aware that this girl can do anything horrifying if unguarded, I quickly bolted out of our loving position –simply not the type of ending-of-a-kiss that I wanted, as insinuated by my unsatisfied expression–, before readjusting my view to the blonde haired girl, Satoko. Smirking and mockingly smiling off, her personality had not changed much (plenty much for a teenager that's been playing traps on me since our first encounter), but her physical features were the antithesis. She had medium-sized hair, along with a much more beautiful and mature touch to her face –yet again, personality stating otherwise–, and a body of Rena's late teens. Staring at her, I couldn't help but feel as if she was another girl that I could've craved for if I didn't choose Rena –of course, I'm just stating possibility, not reality; It's not like I really necessarily **like** this trapmaster in the first place.

As if everything was set up and ready to go (in her order, that is), pain hastily surged into my head, knocking me down to the ground with a higher amount of force than the gravity's 9.8 m/s^2 (ouch, didn't see that coming). When I tried regaining my posture, another pack of pain landed on my back, which drove me down again. Of course, this clearly displeased me to the point where I'll probably get even more angry, and possibly do the forehead flick again. And numbness was of those things that kept me alerted that I was still alive, knowing that revenge can still be achieved, somehow.

"Ohohoho~" Her voice, as it was matured through these years compared to her past, became the only 'loud' source of sound in the atmosphere. As annoying as it usually was, I did not fault her tactics, since we still need to get back to our task of cooking dinner rather than wasting time to go with our lovely-dovely scenes.

_But man, this girl could just say 'hurry up and cook dinner already' rather than all of this –heck, Satoko is always like this._

"Heh," I muttered out, directing my stare to Satoko's, her expression turning content and surprised at cue. Pulling a string that has been attached to my pocket, I felt satisfied that my _own_ trap of pans had fell onto the trapmaster, which much displeased and distraught the young little teen when she fell down to the ground by a few more sets of pans.

_Hehe, how'd you like that for a not-so-bad trap?_

I felt wrapped into a glorious and victorious state, witnessing that my trap had succeeded to hit my opponent. I could also feel myself in the spotlight of accomplishment as if I had just completed the hardest level in a video game: the last boss.

"YES!" I shouted, raising my arms with a big grin on my face, as it was the only verbal indication that I was surely excited by this fact, the fact that I had knocked out the trapmaster for one of these few times.

However, the whole moment was short lived when a ton of steel slammed onto my head, making me feel dizzy and as if I was blurred away from reality for just a couple of seconds, before the concern and worried-filled voice of Rena's caught onto me.

"Are you okay?" Her face was not close nor far from my wrecked body, before I could feel a sense of relief in her presence. From the situation, the little sizzling noise coming from the pot had appeared to be of her doing, knowing that she was still a 'chef' and in this case, food is of priority. Knowing that, I responded physically with a thumbs-up, still numbed from the pain.

"Yay~! Big sis won again!" The twins clapped happily around, their respects paid to their adopted sister, whom sheepishly smiled at their elaborated enthusiasm. Though the trapmaster was somehow buried in these pans of mines, it was only her hand with another string tucked between her fingers that I had finally notice the trigger behind the ton that had just knocked my head down.

As they were cheering, I pushed myself up into a sitting position, still feeling a tad bit wobbly from the traps. Rena also took this time to grab a rag –soaked with some water– and patted my head with it, which somewhat cooled the symptoms down. I gave her a reassuring smile in response to her actions, thankful for her good deeds, even though I wasn't auspicious in traps –or at least, for today.

"Now, now." I looked over to Satoko (since when did she got out of my set of pans so fast?) when she outputted those words, whom has been hugged by the twins with their glee being flagrantly displayed, before she began patting both of them. "Instead of watching me set up the traps, you guys should learn to do it in my place once I go to Hell with Keiichi."

I froze in place, completely shocked by her words.

"H-Hey! Don't teach my kids things like that!" Breaking the ice, I directed my message at Satoko, who's been sticking her tongue out in reply, as laughter filled the background of the atmosphere.

* * *

Night came much more quicker than I thought, its black blanket coating through the sky at eighty miles per hour, as I gripped my pencil with a sense of annoyance.

_My gosh… it's only been the first day of school and I got this hunk of work to do? I wonder how college can handle its own thing!_

The taste of the coffee candy –its caffeine keeping me awake for as long as my body can handle– was still in my mouth, which made me disappointed that I had to go to this type of extent after eating Rena's delicious dinner. In the midst of my scribbling, I recalled the dazzling flavor of the curry, its potatoes, lava-like sauce, and rice drenching the definition of amazement; it was beyond the best that I've seen. I couldn't help but lick my lips at the reminiscence of the moment, especially the part where I squeezed in some lovely-dovely scenes between Rena and me. Giggling at the memory, I then moved on to the next part of the attendance, making a few marks here and there.

_Boy, I just hope Okinomiya doesn't get any popular than this. Teaching at a school that's miles away from Hinamizawa sure is a large hassle to deal with, but nevertheless, I still get paid for what I do._

One of the doors –probably in the hallway– opened, its sound alerting me that whoever is responsible for the noise is in big trouble for staying up. Although in particular situations, let's say for Rena on the other hand, it'll be a special exception.

"Keiichi." I felt surprised that it was not the heartwarming voice of Rena's, but rather the worried tone of Satoko's, suddenly forcing me to turn around with more altruism and concern in my expression. And when I did, I noticed that Satoko –well, typically, the door to the office room, or the room that I normally work in, is almost always opened– had held a pillow to her chest, the innocence within her eyes begging me that she _does _have a reason to wake up this late at night.

"U-Um…" My eyebrows quirk at her sense of insecurity, the hints in regards to her purpose, as she then fidgeted with the pillow. "I-Is it alright if I can sleep with you…?"

Halt.

"A-Ahuh?" I burst out in laughter of how Satoko, despite being a trapmaster that's been playing pranks on me and never really put up such a sadden face for a long time, was like this.

"T-That's rude…!" As my chuckling continues, she transitioned her expression into an annoyed and angered one whilst calling out her response, the pillow now clenched by her fingers on the side. Of course, her physical motions were following suit to the mood of the atmosphere, in which it is from her point of view that was being dominated in the time being. Like she was giving up on me giving up, her face then swayed away from my position, arms crossed to reinforce my prediction. "Hmph, I shouldn't have talked to you, idiot Keiichi!"

With that, she then stomped out of the door, steams of anger puffing out of her head, before I sighed when I put my pencil on the table. I knew that I must've gone a little too far on her this time, as I stood up and pace my way into the hallway, my senses now trying to detect Satoko's presence.

A faint sob.

"S-Satoko…?" I quickly headed to the kitchen area, which sat a crying yellow haired teen, her figure wrapped in her arms. Feeling guilt in how I treated her like this, knowing that she's still a fragile woman, I then sat down next to her, hoping that she'll calm down before telling me the problem.

_Well, it's these times where my 'ni ni' figure comes in, eh?_

And so I sat there for God-knows-when time, listening to her sorrow-filled cries of whatever that's been on her mind, as I then recalled the time when I last saw Satoshi.

_**-FB- (flashback)**_

"_S-Sorry…, if it's alright for you…" The yellow haired man choke out, clenching onto his chest when he gasped for air, as he struggled to keep himself balanced. "T-That… if you take Satoko in my place…?"_

_Blinking at the thought of his very words just now, I pondered on why I was given this task, as his condition itself reinforced his verbal position. Other workers that came along with the Banken had took immediate notice of this situation, and had arrived in a hurry to check up with Satoshi's state._

"_A-Are you alright?" A worker dressed in medical wear had came over, his eyes filled with the experience of an elder's –not to mention that he is actually 20 years old, as said from his ID card–, allowing his altruism to shine through the scene._

_Satoshi, ignoring this worker for a small amount of time, had given me his last and final set of messages._

"_Maebara Keiichi –no, Satoko's new ni ni…" _

_He coughed for a second. _

"_P-Please take care of Satoko, even if I were to die from what went on in the clinic…" _

_He coughed for another second._

"_They were experimenting with my body, as I s-saw from the samples that they took and somehow gave me some inject–"_

_He coughed, harder this time, as I could no longer stand the way he is now; he's acting like a real coward this time._

"_That's enough. If you were to die from that stupid crap, then I don't care if I have to take care of Satoko alone…! But if I were to be question by her regarding your presence, and if you were to **indeed **die from your hospitalization, I won't hesitate to tell her about this! It'll be your responsibility that she cries from the notice of your death!" I blurted out, the emotional impact silencing his own message, as he was seemingly shocked by what I just said. However, instead of giving me an angry expression for interrupting him (he seems awfully calm from what I just said too), he gave me a smile of hope, the type that usually follows up with the sense of gratitude._

"_Thank you…" Were his last words before moving onto his next destination._

_**-FB-End-**_

"Ni ni died…, right…?" She choked out, her shivers now increasing as I then look over to her, the figure of this trapmaster now obscured by the darkness of the night, with the exception of the moon light that shone through the kitchen window (unfortunately, I still can't see Satoko that well). However, it has only been three months ago since she learned of the death of her brother, in which she's been struggling to make sure that she doesn't look too bad about it. In this case, on the other hand, it seems that she was **indeed **affected by it, especially for the fact that she came up to me right here and now.

"Y-Yeah…" I responded back with a calmer tone, letting her ongoing signs of her emotions drape itself upon my shoulder, as I remembered the day where I was told about Satoshi's death. This day was approximately four years ago, a year after our last encounter, as I couldn't help but ground my teeth at how the clinic must've 'experimented' on him.

"What's wrong? I heard sobbing and…" In the light that had shed down the hallway appeared Rena, her inquisitive eyes lingering around to see what's going on, before a concerned expression place its mask on her. "A-Are you okay, S-Satoko?"

"It's just about **that **incident again." I informed her before letting her doing anything reckless at this point, knowing that Satoko's in a state where it's harder to deal with her when someone close to her had disappeared and died on his own, as Rena got the message almost immediately afterwards. Turning to her, I then spoke with much reassurance. "So, please don't worry."

As she blinked several times to process this information, the insinuation reinforced by the way she was dressed and how it seems like she just got out of bed, she then nodded with agreement. "I got it. Then, I'll go back to sleep."

Just before the seconds finally passed, the mood had suddenly died down when a gunshot was heard through the kitchen window, its target catching onto Rena's hand. There was an immediate surge of panic when I widened my eyes to this sight, the reaction of how Rena was clutching onto it, how I was more concerned about her, racing off on my own to her care.

That is, as another bullet caught my leg, making me wince but not falter, as I couldn't bother to care about it as much as Rena's condition.

_W-What's going on?_ I called out in my mind, unable to process my surroundings any further, as I continuously strolled through the area for any signs of the 'enemy', my hand now clutching on both my leg and Rena.

_C-Crap, this isn't one of Takano's plans, is it?_

"Fu…, and I thought you were a wise one, Keiichi." The dark and menacing tone voiced out his malicious intent, as if it were to warn me about the future outcomes that were to come.

_W-Wait…, t-this voice…–it can't be…! No, for a sec I could've sworn I felt nostalgia and__–_

"M-Moto?" Quickly turning around, the hallway light now enveloping what's left of the doctor's face, as he was a person that I can hardly recognize anymore. His hair seemed to have grown out, the (half) face mask being plastered on his head covering everything but his eyes, as the rest of his body was coated in some black armor. I pondered on the reason behind his presence, sweat straining down my skin, as I was scared of the weapon in his hands, the colt 45.

"W-What a-are you doing?" I finally questioned him, feeling as though I haven't encountered a situation like this for such a long time, before –instead of shooting his gun– he dropped a can to the ground. It seemed that it outputted its green gas, the type that was unusually scented in a way that is beyond the definition of horror and disgust.

_S-Such a horrible smell… I-I'm f-feeling numbed…_

Dropping down to the ground, unable to process much of what's going on, I could only listen to what's in the air. This had much displeased me, knowing that I am severely useless, as I was trying my best to raise my motivation up; I needed will power.

"Well, those injections of temporary relief had done well…" Moto's voice picked up, letting me assume that he's talking to multiple people at this time, before he continued his pace of words. "His children are to be in foster families, and we'll test out the subjects of the drug. As for Maebara, you can do whatever you want with him…"

_W-What? T-They're testing out the 'subjects of the __**drug**__'? Since he mentioned that they were temporary relief, it must've been the syringe he's been injecting into Satoko and R-Rena!_

"Heh, they all look so solemn it makes me sick…" Another worker smirked, making me feel worst than the patch of dust I cleaned up yesterday, as he kicked my side.

"Anyways, I hope my continuation of Takano's research will do much good for her, being her student, that is." Realization welled up in my system when I heard those very words from Moto, knowing that his reason revealed himself as Takano's (medical) student, and his motivation probably came upon Miyo's captivity.

_Y-You're kidding me…_

Due to my numbness, I could no longer feel any physical pain of whoever that kicked me, but I know for sure that tears had suddenly start to splurge out of my eyes, making a waterway path down my cheeks and to the ground.

_Now that I think about it…, I wonder why I have to survive…_

My vision was getting more and more blurrier, as I could barely compare reality and illusionary images, my conscious ridding away and away…

* * *

Author's Notes (8/21/10): After a gruesome year of not updating this (I lost the file prior to this release btw), I finally got a chance to remake the ch 15 and end it with a blam xO And well…, unlike my first fic, I decided to do a not-so-fairytale-happy ending xP It's a nice break from my third fic, considering that I've been spending my months on working on it so much it's makin my keyboard bleed xP But anyways, you can like it, hate it, loath it, be whatever, I don't care xDDD I **might **make a sequel, but I'm more into SatokoxKeiichi now that I read over this chapter xPP But mmeh, maybe that's just my change of taste for the meantime. Of course, I'll still love RenaxKeiichi, but to not let me stall my time in this section of the chapter, R&R! (P.S. Keep in mind that if you see anything wrong with my writing, I'm writing this while I'm barely awake =-=;; And it's like what? 3AM in the morning… mmhmmm)

Edited (8/21/10): So many ff(dot)net kills... they're gettin rid of my italics T^T;;

Edited (8/22/10): Just edited the first half of the chapter.

Anyways, here's a drink to those who have been with me or just join me through this fic. In other words, a toast to the reviewers~!

_**The Enthusiastic**_

PherraElise, Influenced2DrawManga

**_Pointers of heroism_**

Letter to Miss, Ai Priestess, BakaBlue, Redseb

_**Smilies of suspense**_

Chiyo and Osaka Fan, Cicada Of The Dark-SacredHero-, Nightrose1, Renaislove, Insert Spiffy Name Here

Thank you again for reading this fanfiction, and vote for 'Survivors' in my poll if you want me to write a sequel or just something similar to Higurashi (I'm still debating on which though, and PM me if you wanna give me advices). If you want to, check out my third fanfiction, which is Chosen Fate, and see more of my skills that I have in this chapter. I'll have to be frank that this is not the best piece of fanfiction I've created, but hey, I'm still a teenager that's striving through life. Thank y'all who read, and take care.


End file.
